transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:13] May our testimonies be as deep and as strong as that of Jacob, who when confronted by one who sought to destroy his faith, declared, I could not be shaken.

Speaker 2:
[00:38] Hello, my friends, welcome back to Unshaken. I'm Jared Halverson, and I hope you brought your hiking boots today, because we're gonna need them. We are back in Exodus, and we've left Egypt behind us. We've crossed the Red Sea. We've been navigating our wilderness of sin. And today, we find ourselves at the base of Mount Sinai with some hiking ahead. So yes, hiking boots are in order. And a good walking stick if you've got one, thinking of you, Moses, and the rod of God. When I first hiked Sinai in college, it was an incredible experience. The view from the top is amazing. But to get there, it takes a lot of putting one foot in front of the other. And that sounds a lot like the lessons we're going to try to learn today as far as the law of the Lord is concerned. We started in the middle of the night. And at the beginning, it was just plodding along in the darkness. And that does feel like keeping the commandment sometimes, especially when we're young. I don't understand why I'm doing this. I don't see any purpose in it, but they keep cracking the whip and saying, Let's keep walking forward. Fine. Well, as we get a little higher in elevation, as the light begins to dawn, typically we begin to see why we were supposed to walk a certain narrow path. Looking back, oh yeah, there were some steep drop-offs. I'm glad I had the confines of covenant to keep me in safe space. And by the time we get to the top and can fully see all that got us there, then I hope we'll have the paradigm shift that allows us to echo the Lord's words in the Doctrine and Covenants, that we have been crowned with commandments, not a few. You see, we all started on foot, and most of commandments and obedience really are just taking it step by step. There were places on the trail that camels were available, if absolutely necessary. And yes, I do believe that God offers us whatever support we need to ascend. On the back side of Sinai, it's fascinating. There's actually an ancient monastery, St. Catharines. And over the centuries, the monks have literally carved out of the stones of Sinai a staircase to get to the top. And they can hike it anytime they want. And I think that says something about commandments as well. We saw earlier the rungs of Jacob's ladder, all the principles and ordinances of the gospel to get us home to him. But these steps up Sinai are similar. And to understand to the commandments given one by one to help us climb back to Christ, they are such a blessing. It's not a burden. And once you get to the top and take in the view, believe me, it will all be worth it. Exodus 19 begins, in the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt. The same day came they in to the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness and there Israel camped before the mount. Now, can you picture this? A bunch of tents facing the mountain where God will speak to his prophet and the prophet will speak to them, sounding familiar from a Book of Mormon story. When King Benjamin builds his tower, his little mini-Mount Sinai and the camp of Israel, those Nephites come and pitch their tents facing the temple, the mount of God, facing their prophet, God's mouthpiece, ready to learn from the Lord. In verse 3, Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain. This story is coming full circle. If you remember back in Exodus 3, when Moses was at the mountain, at the burning bush, and God said to him, Certainly I will be with thee on this mission impossible, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, check, ye shall serve God upon this mountain, check. I love this. Moses, welcome back. So good to see you again. It's a lot like the angel who appears to Alma to cry repentance and then later reappears to Alma saying, good job repenting. I haven't seen you in a while and you've made some incredible progress since then. Keep it up, my friend. Well, here, it's not just going to be a burning bush this time. It's going to be a burning mountain with smoke and fire and lightning and thunder and cloud and quaking and everything else. It's coming full circle, but it's coming into greater crescendo. You brought all Israel with you. Not to say I told you so, but I did tell you. I did promise you that. And it's happening. Verse 3, we see what God said to Moses. Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself. You see how personal all those pronouns are? We saw all those in 18. Moses got it. Jethro got it. It wasn't about us. It was always about God. And here God himself is saying similarly, I did all of this, and I did it for you because you're mine. I love you. I brought you unto myself. And with that personal connection, that relationship driving all of this, God says in verse 5 and 6, one of the key passages for Israel, ancient and modern. Now, therefore, after all I've done to bring you home to me, if ye will obey my voice indeed, there's commandment keeping, and keep my covenant at staying within this relationship, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. You see, Israel, we're starting over here. We are wiping clean the old Egyptian slate, and since you're no longer what you used to be, you can be anything from here. So what identity would you choose for yourself? I've got some suggestions. You're mine. You are my peculiar treasure. Now, we talk about being a peculiar people, and we think of peculiar as in weird. And yes, sometimes we live up to that, sadly, or gratefully, right? The way the world is going, I'd rather be weird, countercultural. But peculiar in this case doesn't mean strange. It means it's possessive. God claims it as his own. It's peculiar to him. So my peculiar people, that's my people, or my peculiar treasure, you're my treasured possession. You're special. You're my own. You belong to me. In the Book of Malachi, it uses this phrase, when I make up my jewels, that's the same word here. Segula is the word in Hebrew. God's chosen possession, his treasured people. Those are my jewels. And will we be his? Are we okay to accept that title? Now, that seems exclusivistic, though, doesn't it? Peculiar treasure above all people, those are mine, those are my chosen people. And we live in a day that isn't big on exclusivity. We live in a day that's much bigger on inclusivity, and that's a good thing. Now, I do fear that we've overcorrected, and our inclusivity is such that we don't have anything to share with one another. We have kind of mushed into some middle ground where, well, I don't want to, we're not allowed to be different. We, despite the world's glorification of diversity, but no, we just, who am I to say anything or give anything to you? Because if I'm trying to offer you something, is that paternalistic? Is that, this is a post-colonial world, come on. Well, that's where the second verse comes in handy. Well, why do I want a peculiar treasure? Why am I choosing a people above everyone else? Especially if I'm a God that is no respecter of persons? If I love all equally? Well, that's where a kingdom of priests and a holy nation comes in. Because if you're a kingdom of priests, what do priests and priestesses do? They serve others. They do not serve themselves. This is the Abrahamic Covenant all over again, renewed upon Moses and the entire House of Israel. Abraham, in thee and in thy seed, that's the exclusivity side of the contrary. That's the peculiar treasure. Shall all the families of the earth be blessed? That's the inclusivity side of the contrary. That's the kingdom of priests. If you collectively can become an holy nation, and that's done by obeying my voice and keeping my covenant. I'm trying to cut you off from outside influences, so you can end up being an influence on the outside. I'm trying to make you different, so you can make a difference. So please obey. Keep taking steps up Sinai. If you'll stay within the confines of covenant, then nothing can confine you as far as the way you can bless the world at large. I love Exodus 19, 5, and 6. Those are our marching orders. More than what we do, though, it's who we are, who God intends us to be. So choose. Choose to obey me. Choose to keep my covenant. In other words, marriage, family. Take on the family business and be a part of it. In verse 7, Moses came and called for the elders of the people. We're going to start there. I'm delegating already. See this lower, lower leaders. Come here, elders. And laid before their faces all these words, which the Lord commanded him. And now that it's being spread through these rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds and fifties and tens and so on, verse 8, the collective house of Israel can respond. And all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. You see how the delegation is working and how the middlemen and it's going down and coming back up. And Moses has spoken to God, for God, to the elders of Israel. They've spoken to the people. The people respond. Moses takes it back to God. Amazing. And I love the people's response. We'll do it. That's who we want to be on our best days. When we've had manna to eat and water to drink and we aren't murmuring. Sorry, Moses. On those good days, that's exactly who I, I intend to become, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. Actually kingdoms. Isn't that kings and queens? Oh, but of priests. Oh, and priestesses. Kings and queens, priests and priestesses, becoming that here at the mountain of the Lord. I want that. I want to become that. Not because of what it will mean alone for me, but because of what I can become for everyone else. God's peculiar treasure. Yeah. So I can bless the world. All that he says will do. That's a key word there. Not some, not most, not occasionally. I'll do everything. So in verse 9, the Lord says to Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. Now, can we hear the voice of God behind the words of our prophets? Because I love what the Lord is saying to Moses there. I'll come down in this thick cloud, veiled, if the people are unprepared for my presence. But they'll hear my voice. They'll know that I speak to you. It's like the... Moses, I know this is a tough go, right? Bringing all of Israel out of Egypt is a tough one. And you'll struggle with them even more a little later on. Prepare yourself for the next couple of weeks. But I want the people to know that I've got your back, that I called you, and whom I call, I qualify. And so invite them to come and listen. In verse 10, the Lord said unto Moses, Go into the people. And three things, sanctify them today and tomorrow. Second, let them wash their clothes. And third, be ready against the third day. For the third day, the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. Can we do that? Can we become clean? Do you remember Jacob was asking that of his family when they were going back to the sight of Jacob's ladder, Bethel, the house of God? Well, Sinai is the same equivalent. And here you have the new Jacob, aka Moses, saying to his family, aka Israel, wash yourself. Put away false gods. That was Jacob's advice. Same thing here. Sanctify yourself. Wash even your outer clothing, inside and outside. Come clean. Clean hands. Pure heart. And be ready. We've talked about the importance of temple worthiness. But do we talk enough about temple readiness? I might be clean, but I might be unprepared. Clean, but clueless. That probably describes most of us when we went to the temple for the first time. And we could help a little bit more so that people aren't clueless. Let's explain some ways to be ready for this experience, not just being worthy for the experience. And if you are, then you will see. You see, I'll come down in the sight of the people. Last verse was, they'll hear me as I speak to you. Here, they will see something. And if you want to graduate from sound to sight, that's how you do it. It's through sanctification. That's what the Lord says in section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Therefore, sanctify yourselves, same word there, that your minds become single to God. And the days will come that you shall see him, for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time and in his own way, and according to his own will. So the promise given through Moses there still holds today, for we peculiar people. In verse 12, thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it. Whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death. That seems a little strict. But we wanted to hear God, we wanted to see him. It's like those poor security guards that are posted at football or basketball games when the underdog is about to pull off the ultimate upset. And there they are, ready to be bowled over as the crowd empties out onto the court or the field. Yeah, don't come down. Yeah, good luck enforcing that one. Never works. Well, here, set bounds and don't cross them, Israel. In fact, don't even touch the border of the mountain. Draw the line and then take a few steps back. Okay? Because if you touch it, you will die. Now, this seems a little over the top, doesn't it? And yet, what is God about to give them? Law, commandments. So heaven forbid, he give us some commandments on the way to giving us actual commandments. Okay? This one actually is a pretty small one, but with a huge consequence, and I'm using that on purpose. You see, I've had students over the years say, why is God so strict in the Old Testament? In fact, some even go, why is he so mean, or why is he so harsh? Well, I hope you've been seeing his mercy throughout it all, and we'll keep looking for it everywhere we can, and it's everywhere. But in answer to that question, I'll often say to them, oh, that's right, you don't have kids yet. And they go, what? Well, trust me, the Old Testament made so much more sense to me once I had children of my own. Now, that doesn't mean I'm harsh to my children, but it does mean that I am crystal clear, or I tried to be crystal clear in my instructions, immediate in the consequences when they do something wrong. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to kill them for touching the border of the Mount, okay? These are adults, but spiritually they're children. And so they're going to need clear limits, structure in their lives, clear consequence that ideally is inherently connected to the crime, so that it makes total sense to them. This is like raising puppies for lack of a better analogy, that they thrive on repetition and order and clear punishments and rewards, especially the rewards, okay? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to reduce our children to the level of puppies. Okay? But some training takes place. I actually had a fascinating conversation with a new friend of mine, with some amazing insights into this whole concept of proving contraries and things that he'd heard me talk about. It's like, oh, I want to share some things back, and we were learning from each other. It was awesome. He has three foster children, and they came from really, really hard situations with drug abuse among their birth parents, and absolute neglect, and major mental illness. He and his wife are a pair of saints that said, we can handle all that, and we can help them. So they are. He said, it's interesting raising foster kids that were already raised in the wrong way elsewhere, and trying to undo that damage, to help them unlearn so that they can then relearn. That's the approach. That's the stages of faith, by the way. Creation, fall, atonement. There's construction, deconstruction, reconstruction, or there's learn, unlearn, relearn. We all need to go through it to a degree, but especially his kids. As he was describing some of the things he and his wife have done, it's awesome. It's changing the lives of their children for the better. As we were laughing about this analogy, I said, that's genius. I've always used children as an example of taking, you know, Israel out of Egypt, and then trying to take Egypt out of Israel from then on out. And like I said, I've told my students that it'll make more sense when you have kids. But I said to this new friend, foster kids is an even better example, because they've already been raised in a certain way. Israel, they were foster kids in Egypt. With false gods and false senses of self, they were slaves. And how would they view themselves? No wonder they need to be told, you're a peculiar treasure. You mean everything to me. You're my jewels. You're not the filth beneath some of the Egyptian taskmaster's feet. You can become a kingdom, not be crushed under some other kingdom's thumb. You are priests and priestesses, not slaves. So come to see yourself the way I see you. But that's going to take a lot of time and a lot of remaking. It's going to take a lot of discipline. And until it becomes self-discipline, it will have to be outside discipline. So here's the line. You must not cross it. If you touch the line, you will die. I'm going to be as clear as I possibly can be. Because the real instructions that are coming up in one more chapter, those do have eternal consequences. You thought this was bad with life and death? Well, this is eternal life and death. So I'm just getting you warmed up, okay? Now, verse 13, he explains it further. There shall not end hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through. Whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. Now, that clarifies, 13 clarifies 12. Now, on the one hand, so not even a hand, don't touch it. Actually sounds like Adam and Eve in the garden, right? Did God really say not to eat the fruit? Yeah, he said that. In fact, he said don't even touch the fruit. I guess I'll never eat it if I never touch it. He doesn't want me on the mountain unprepared, unworthy or unready. So here's the line, don't even touch the line. Because once you touch it, it's really easy to go past it. Okay? Gotcha. That's helpful. Not beast or man? Well, the beast isn't even going to know. Oh, okay. So then you're responsible for those beasts. You need to take care of each other. And anyone who doesn't know about the rule, make sure they do. Steer them in a better direction. That also says something about accountability. Because would a beast be accountable to this rule? No, because they don't understand it. But there are still consequences that come, whether you know about it or not. So we need to help each other out here. This for now is less about moral choice. We'll see that in Chapter 20. This is more about just choice in general. It's less about things that are inherently evil, and more about simply learning to follow instructions. I've heard that in the military with boot camp and things, there are so many rules to follow, even down to making your bed in the morning to the point that the quarter bounces off the blanket, right? Those stereotypical stories. Well, what's up with that? Is making my bed really going to save my life in the war? Actually, maybe. I've seen books written from ex-military men saying it all starts with making your bed in the morning. Not that that does anything in and of itself, but it does create discipline, a sense of accomplishment, doing something and doing it well and doing it right, the very first thing out of bed. It gives you momentum for the rest of the day. If you can do that and do it really, really right, that's the skill set. It's not the specific skill set I'm after, it's the set of attributes I'm trying to develop. So let's work on this. This is like the old marshmallow test from Stanford University years ago. Elder Uchtdorf used this in a conference talk, that just don't eat the marshmallow. But there's nothing wrong with eating marshmallows. Well, fine. But I'm just telling you not to. I will give you a reward if you can keep this rule. Or if you just eat it, that's its own inherent punishment because you don't get another marshmallow later. Carrot sticks, take your pick. And it's only for a certain amount of time. So eventually, this particular rule will cease to be in effect. And that's what happened in 13 also. It's just until the trumpet sounds. Once the trumpet, I'm just trying to train your, it's short-term. Train your obedience. Work on flexing that muscle and pushing back against the natural man. Don't cross just this line, although there's nothing inherently evil about it. Okay. Don't even let your animals do it. Be responsible for each other and keep the rule. Okay. This is just like working with a little kid. Can you sit still for 30 seconds is all. And I'll give you a treat. And then we'll work towards a minute. Then we'll work to, you might actually eventually be able to sit still in sacrament meeting. It'll be amazing for all of us. This is a little puppy. Sit. Stay. What was it? Stay. You're not going to stay there forever, but I'm trying to train you. Okay. And God's trying to train us all. Verse 14. Moses went down for the mount unto the people and sanctified the people, as asked, and they washed their clothes, as asked. And he said unto the people, be ready against the third day. Come not at your wives. Now, that last one is an interesting one. Because if you're married, this is sexual relationships that he's talking about, and to avoid them for the next three days as we're trying to get temple ready. Now, intimacy within the bonds of marriage is not a matter of worthiness or unworthiness. So that's not what he's talking about here. Again, we're not talking about things that are inherently wrong. Otherwise, beasts can do anything because they haven't been taught any better. But here, I'm again seeking self-discipline. I'm asking for readiness and not just worthiness. I'm wanting to see if you can follow instructions. So let's stick with that. That's going to be part of your readiness to come to the mountain. Verse 16, it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. This is the god of the Exodus, after all. This is the god of the ten plagues, the god of the parting of the waters, the god of pillar of fire, cloud of smoke, the god of shaking, to make sure that things are well-built and will stand the test of time. In verse 17, Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mount. You're picture of the prophet coaxing them forward. You can do this. You have been sanctified. You've been washed. You are ready as well as worthy. So come. You heard the trumpet blast. You can have your second marshmallow. You've done incredibly well. So come. Now, in section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we need to take a quick field trip to see an added detail about what's happening here. The Lord's been talking about the Melchizedek Priesthood and its saving ordinances through which we can come to know God and receive the powers of godliness. He says this in verse 21. For without the ordinances thereof, of the Melchizedek Priesthood that is, and the authority of the priesthood, then the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh. For without this, without these ordinances, without this authority, no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live. Now this, what's this? Everything we just studied. Now this, Moses plainly talked to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God. That's what he's been doing, sanctifying them, telling them to wash, to be ready, to be worthy. He's teaching, according to section 84, he's teaching that this is how you access the powers of godliness. It's going to be through the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood. This is what God is hoping to give to us. We'll see more of this next week. Are the people ready? Well, we'll see how that plays out. But that is the goal. And Moses is seeking diligently to accomplish it. In verse 18, Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. There's fire to purify, smoke to veil our eyes, and, therefore, require our faith. The quaking, like I said, to reduce, to rubble, things that have not truly been made according to the standards of God. And then in 19, when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. Can you picture the intensity of this moment? The clarion call, the fire and smoke and quaking and thunder and lightening, and God speaking to Moses. Verse 20, the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses went up. See, God is coming down, Moses is going up. We'll see more of this as the tabernacle is laid out, and these different areas of the outer court or the holy place or the holy of holies, to see the base of the mountain, the valley before it, or the bottom part of the mountain, or God who's waiting for us to reach him at the top. There is a telestial, terrestrial, celestial kind of differentiation here. But the fact God is willing to come down, there's condescension. And no wonder he asks so many of his prophets to ascend the mountain to be with him. That's Moses here, but it was Enoch back in Moses 6 and 7. It's Nephi in 1st Nephi. It's the brother of Jared in the Book of Ether. It's Peter, James and John with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration. It's us every time we ascend the mountain of the Lord when we go to the temple. It's our own Bethel, right? It's our Garden of Eden climbing back up to access the Tree of Life. In verse 21, the Lord said unto Moses, Go down. What? I just got here. I took all this time to climb up. I know. But now go down and charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. So there's another warning. This needs to be based on covenant, not mere curiosity. What's happening in there? I just want to peek. I want to gaze. Oh, no, there's sanctify yourself so that your eye is single to my glory, not just to satisfy some kind of human curiosity. In verse 22, let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. Break out in anger against them is how it's translated elsewhere. To break forth, that can also mean to burst out. It's the same word that's used in childbirth, that a child is breaching, is breaking forth out of the womb. And to think of God breaking forth, to come through, to part the veil, to reach out to us and draw us in to him, that's what he hopes will happen here. But we have to be ready for it. We have to be pure, sanctified, even the priests. In verse 23, Moses says unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for thou chargest us, saying, set bounds upon the mount and sanctify it. I laugh at this one because it's Moses kind of pushing back gently against the Lord because the Lord says, okay, you came up? Awesome. Go back down and remind the people not to touch them out, not to come out, not to cross the line. Remember, we're trying to teach them how to color within the lines. We're teaching them to line up in order. We are developing self-discipline among them. And Moses here is like, well, we don't need to because they can't. I don't have to go down and tell them because I already did. The first time you told me to tell them, I did and we're good to go. So now that I'm up here, I'm just ready to receive all the law. Then the Lord is like, you don't know little kids or foster children like I do. Go back down and remind them, okay? They will need constant reinforcement that these really are the rules that need to be followed. So get used to repeating yourself, okay? Then finally, verse 24 and 5, the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down. This is your chance to obey too, okay? And thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee, bring your brother next time, but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord. Lest he break forth upon them, I'm repeating myself, I know, but you need it too, Moses. So Moses went down unto the people and spake unto them. So he did as commanded and went down to bring another one up. Again, condescension followed by condescension. I actually went through this chapter a second time after I'd been studying this, just because I was so struck with the movement of Moses and the up and the down. And I go, okay, now go back down. Okay, come back up and talk. Okay, go back and remind them, do I have to? I'm already up here? Yes. And okay, come back, bring Aaron. And if I'm reading this right, Moses went up in three, down in seven, up in eight, down in 14, up in 20, down in 25. Whew, he's getting his workout. Those steps haven't yet been carved by the monks, but maybe there was some well-defined trail by the time Moses had gone up and down so many times. But welcome to the life of a prophet. I picture their meetings in the Salt Lake Temple every Thursday, climbing up to be with God and then climbing back down to go somewhere in the world to bless God's children. There's a Moses, there's an Aaron, there's a President Nelson or a President Oaks. It's amazing to see what they are trying to accomplish in connecting heaven with earth by blazing the trail and by being for us to Godward. Now with 19 behind us, 20 then prepares us to receive the law. I got used to this border I'm not supposed to cross, or even touch, I didn't even get close to it. Thanks for the reminder. I was getting a little tempted to peek, but I'm back here. I've kept my animals, kept each other, heard the trumpet. Are we ready to move? Okay, good. You're learning some self-discipline. Now let's have some lines that are not just being drawn in the sand, but are being engraved in the stone. Things that are far more than just physical life or death at the base of the mountain, but will bring you spiritual life or death at its top. The Ten Commandments, synonymous with Exodus 20. These are things we have to learn to master. Not only are they found in the Old Testament, but Jesus refers to many of them in the New and even raises the bar on them. They are repeated in the Book of Mormon by Abinadi. They are repeated by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants in Section 42 and 59. So these are serious. It's hard to find a standard work that doesn't reiterate the Ten Commandments in some shape or form. In some ways, you've graduated from the game of Simon Says down below, and now you're ready for the Word of the Lord that reflects essential matters of right and wrong. And don't forget what Jesus himself said when the lawyer asked, which of all those commandments is most important? Which of the ten? Is that what he's wondering? It doesn't matter how many are on your list. I can boil it down to two. Love God and love neighbor. But then he says this, for on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. The law is what we're seeing for Moses. The prophets is what we'll see pretty much everywhere else in the Old Testament. But the fact you can boil it all down to those two, let's work on that as we study the Ten Commandments now. Which category would we place them under? The vertical or the horizontal dimension? Vertical connecting with God, loving him, horizontal, the loving neighbor as self. Now, I remember years ago teaching seminary and learning this interesting mnemonic device to keep the Ten Commandments in mind and to keep them in order. Somebody, an older teacher had said, Oh yeah, it's easy. Gib Guy and Gabe always went to church and their parents were so proud of them that they built them a castle by the sea. I go, what are you talking about? Oh, that's the Ten Commandments in order. Huh? Yeah, three brothers. Gib, strange names, Gib Guy and Gabe. Gib is G-B, that stands for no gods before me. Guy is G-I, that stands for grave in images. None of those either. Gabe is G-V, so that's God's name in vain. Gib Guy and Gabe always went to church. Oh, that's keeping the Sabbath day holy. And their parents, there's honor your father and your mother, were so proud that they built them a K-A-S-L by the sea. Forgive the spelling. K is don't kill, A is don't commit adultery, S is don't steal, L is don't lie, or as is said in Exodus, don't bear false witness, and C is don't covet. Kind of helpful, right? So again, Gib Guy and Gabe always went to church, and their parents were so proud that they built them a K-A-S-L by the sea. There are the Ten Commandments. That is the law. And together with all the prophets, they boiled down to loving God and loving neighbor. So let's see how God unfolds them in Exodus 20. Verse 1, God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out to the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Now remember that, because that is the preface to the Ten Commandments. So before he gives them the law, he wants to introduce them to the Lord. And remind them of who he is, and where they would be without him. Now this is not the divine equivalent of, I brought you into the world and I can take you out of it. Or as long as you're living under my roof, you have to follow my commandments, my rules. That's what parents say in mortality. It's not quite that way. But God is reminding them, if you ever wonder about the whys behind all these commandments, please remember the who, that ultimately stands behind them. If you'll remember that I'm the Lord, your God, and that without me, you would still be in Egypt, either way, you're going to be following rules. You want the worlds or the Lord's? Do you want to be doing what the Egypt is demanding of you? Or do you want to develop the righteous reflexes, the wax on, wax off, right? That come through obedience to the commandments of God. Always keep that identity behind all of these requirements of obedience. In fact, Alma 12, verse 32, God gave unto them commandments after having made known unto them the plan of redemption. That's such an important verse. You got to know the context for these commands. And why they're so important. So let's explain the plan. And then in the context of the plan, here's why commandments are so important. And that seems to be what God is doing here. The plan is me and bringing you out of Egypt to get you to your promised land. It was creation, it's fall, now it's atonement. And this is where all these commandments fit in. So here they are, number one. Verse three, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Short, sweet, simple, straightforward. But man, it's hard to live in a world that seems to be presenting us with gods all around us, other things that will ask us for sacrifice and allegiance. And not just bad things, good things too, but things that might distract or dilute our discipleship, things that will keep us from the things that matter most, the blessings that only the true and living god can give us. Remember what we learned from Jethro. The god of Israel can do better than any other god out there, even in the things wherewith they boast themselves. And so no other gods, in some ways he's saying no lesser gods, because that's all it would ever be. Don't turn to them and do what they ask just because of what they can give you. I can give you something so much better. I can make you into someone so much better. So please keep everything else in proper perspective. If it's a bad false god, then eliminate it entirely. If it's a good false god, still realize it's false and keep it as a distant second at best, far behind your allegiance to the Lord your God. This is Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. This is before you seek for riches, seeking for the kingdom of God. And after you have obtained a hope in Christ, you shall obtain those other things if you seek them, and you'll seek them for the right purposes. I love the statement from William Law, 18th century Anglican priest. Elder Maxwell has quoted him and made that statement more famous in the church, but originally from William Law. If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead. So that first commandment is first for good reason. Make sure you keep God first and foremost in every aspect of your life. Everything else then will fall into proper place or fall off your list entirely. I think it was Elder Hunter, Howard W. Hunter that taught that. In verse 4, our second commandment, Thou shalt not make into thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Part of me wants to say, why would I grave an image when I have already been graven after the image and likeness of God himself? Anything else is a cheap imitation of the true and living God. I am his son. You are his daughter or son. To understand that, his image engraven in our countenance, I don't need any lesser image. I certainly don't want to pay homage to some lesser image that's out there. No other gods? Well, I certainly don't need a graven image. In fact, I don't need a visible thing to remind me of the invisible God. I will place faith in him because honestly, anything visible would probably end up taking away from the reality of the invisible God. Have you ever seen a movie that you've read the book for and you were disappointed because the movie's depiction just couldn't do justice to what you had created in your own mind and heart? In some ways, the problem with a graven image is because it's too, well, set in stone, perhaps literally. It's a painting that is framed and therefore has its limits. When you try to define God, F-I-N is the word for finish, end, and define is to establish some kind of end. This is what it is, and it's not anything beyond it. This is what it is because that is what it isn't. Well, be careful about trying to define God and drawing limits to the Lord to the point of, well, he could probably do this, but he can't do anything beyond that. Oh, careful. I love the phrase in the Dedicatory Prayer of the Kirtland Temple, where Joseph speaks of God's infinity of fullness. You understand why you shouldn't paint the picture? Because it can't be framed. It certainly can't fit on any earthly canvas. And that doesn't mean that we can't paint pictures. And to see the beautiful works of art that have been created throughout time to bear witness of God, those can be moving. But if they take the place of the God that so far out shines them, then we've got a middleman that's blocking our view instead of pointing us to Godward. It's an interesting commandment. In verse 5, he explains it further. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. Perhaps that's the bigger concern. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandment. Now, those are stark comparisons. Hate me versus love me. Wow, I'm not trying to go to those extremes. Well, you end up at one extreme or the other. Remember the Lord's words in the Sermon on the Mount that no man can serve two masters? Well, why? Because you'll either hate the one and love the other, those same extreme verbs, or you'll hold to the one and despise the other. You see, life tends to nudge you toward the extremes of identification and pure undiluted allegiance to one side or the other. It's hard to strike middle ground and be a true independent or reach across both sides of any aisle. And yet here, be careful about allowing idols, graven images, false gods into your life, because they're not going to be satisfied with joint custody. This really is a custody battle between God and the devil, between God and mammon, Zion and Egypt, and here we are being pulled between the poles. So hate one, love the other, you're going to end up making those kinds of decisions. And God is jealous in a good way. Not jealous in a self-serving way, but jealous in the thought of, why wouldn't you stay on my side, because I'm the only one that can help you cross the ultimate finish line. Satan's equally jealous, but his is a selfish jealousy. It is about him, because he gives nothing to us, whereas the Lord wants to give us all that he have. So be aware of that kind of modern-day idolatry that you and I might fall into. It may not be an Egyptian or Canaanite pantheon, we're tempted to carve into stone. But there are false gods and graven images that we tend to idolize in our day too. I love how Brigham Young said it. I would as soon see a man worshipping a little god made of brass or of wood, as to see him worshipping his property. From a modern perspective, we almost laugh at the thought of all those uncivilized barbarians that would bow to some carved image. Well, are we that much better or that much different when we seem to be offering our allegiance to lesser things all the time? In verse 7, we see our next commandment, the third. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. So many ways to define that kind of vanity. We see it in section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants where the name of the priesthood is replaced for the Melchizedek Priesthood. What we would have said in the place of Melchizedek is the name of deity. And yet to avoid the too frequent repetition of the name of deity, that's why we call it Melchizedek Priesthood either. Now, I don't think I've ever used the name of Melchizedek Priesthood flippantly, which means I don't think I would use the name of God flippantly if I stuck to the original title of the priesthood. But that says something. If the Lord is concerned about us using the name of God even reverently, but too frequently, then imagine how serious he must feel about taking his name in vain. And sadly, for some people, that is one of the more common words in their vocabulary. They're just never referring to God when they utter his name. And that's vanity. That's why would you do that? It's done in vain. It means nothing. And it suggests that God means nothing to you. No wonder that you cannot be held guiltless if that's the case. There's another way to take that. And that's to take the name of God upon you in vain. Think about priesthood ordinances. Think about church membership. And do we sometimes take the name of God upon ourselves? For no reason. Oh, just one more day at church and I'll get, oh, the bread just got past and I'm supposed to take it because everyone else does. I haven't really been thinking much about my covenants or Christ. But, oh well, let me take the name of God. Careful. Are we doing it in vain? Or along those lines, but switching the meaning of vanity. It's not just doing it for no reason, but doing it for a selfish reason. Vanity in that, the Ecclesiastes says, vanity, vanity, all is vanity. It doesn't mean everyone's staring in a mirror. It's just, it's meaningless. And sometimes we take the name of God in a meaningless way. But sometimes we do it in a vain way. That's when the mirror does come in. That's when we're praying to be heard of man. That's when we're disfiguring our faces while we fast. That's when we're doing things for others, when we're really doing things for ourselves. And that's taking the name of God in a vain, glorious kind of way. More about us than about him. And that's not guiltless either. In verse 8, 9, 10, we see a larger explanation for the fourth commandment. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. Now at the end there, we see that it's not just about us. And like that line at the bottom of Sinai, make sure your beasts don't even cross it. Same thing here, the Sabbath isn't just about a rule for you, my people. It's in fact less a rule and more a blessing. And it's a blessing intended for everyone. A day of rest, a day to rest from your labors. Think about it, former slaves. What does a day of rest sound like a restriction to you? Or does it sound like the ultimate release and relief from a world that never seems to give you any freedom? Everyone deserves that. Every manservant, every maidservant, every beast. Let people and things, we'll see later, even the earth itself, let it rest. I hope that allows us to change our perspective on the Sabbath. From a day of don'ts, to a day of do's, but do's that bring us to God, that free us from the wicked world and all of its pressures. Let the world share in that gift. And so it's not just about me not being able to work, it's me not having to work, and me not making anyone else work either, for my behalf. I do want to share in that gift. And that does help me determine what I will or will not do on the Sabbath day. Not just how it affects me, but how it affects other people. Once we understand that rest is a spiritual necessity, even if it's not a physical necessity. Did God get tired after six days of creation, physically speaking? No. But to carve out space, to just contemplate all he'd done the six days before, or as we see again from section 84, right on the heels of that Moses trying diligently to sanctify his people, he talks about entering into the rest of the Lord, and then he defines it, which rest is the fullness of God's glory. That should change the way we approach the Sabbath. Wow, that day of rest. Some of them joked, it's like, wow, I'm busier on Sundays than I am the rest of the week. You who are in certain callings in the church, yeah, you know what I'm talking about. So some of them said, day of rest? Uh-uh. It's like during the week, I do everything I can, and then on Sunday, I have to do all the rest. There might be some truth. He even said it, you're going to rest from thy work. That doesn't mean you're resting from mine. But what is that work? Oh, it's my work and my glory, which means my rest, which includes my work, is a way to access the fullness of my glory. And it is amazing how those kinds of days, in many ways, rejuvenate us in ways that taking a mere nap never could. But don't forget the way the Lord set up that verse. He didn't start with keep the Sabbath day holy. He started with remember. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Have there been any Sabbath days in your life worth remembering? Or the memory of which just makes you want to celebrate another Sabbath just like that one? A day that truly got you into the fullness of God's glory? If you can remember those, then every Sabbath becomes a goal to get back to that place on Sinai, where you are encompassed about by the glory of God. Now, remembering just might be the important thing we can do on the Sabbath in order to help us keep it holy, or better said, so that it can keep us holy, since that's its real design. And I would suggest there are three things that we need to be remembering on the Sabbath. And this is the way God himself set it out. The first instance of enjoining the Sabbath upon his children was creation. Seven, six days I labored, created heaven and earth. Seventh day I rested and sanctified this space, so that you'd have time to rest as well. That's part of becoming very good in God. So what do we remember on the Sabbath? We remember the creation. Second step is here. Now that you've been freed from Egyptian bondage and you're about to come into your promised land, remember this kind of an experience, and keeping the Sabbath day holy will come naturally to you, because you can finally rest from Egyptian labor. You're free from bondage. Your Sabbath day is a day of deliverance. Remember that, and you can feel the freedom of being delivered from work, and worry, and care. It's a glorious day. The third, we have to wait for the New Testament. When the Lord takes a Sabbath day of rest and glorious work in the spirit world, that's His Saturday. And then on Sunday, that first Easter Sunday, bursts forth with newness of life out of that empty tomb. And that became the Sabbath for Christians from that day forward. We call it the Lord's Day, and it does belong to him. He made it his own, that's for sure. And then he gave it to all of us as a time to be able to remember him, and to remember the atonement that he had just performed, the at-one-ment he had just made possible. So here's the thing, I've had students over the years ask, I remember this one girl, particularly in Tennessee, just joined the church, amazing new convert, full of desire and just wanted to do what was right. She was awesome. And one day, she asked me about certain Sabbath day activities and asked if any of those were against the Sabbath. And she had like this list. And I'm not big on lists, I'm big on principles, right? Teach them and then let them govern themselves. And so as she was asking about these things, like, does this break the Sabbath? Does that break the Sabbath? Does that break the Sabbath? I said, I love the way you're asking the question, does it break the Sabbath? What does it mean when something's broken? And she's like, what do you mean? No, no, seriously, what is it? When something's broken, how does that, what are we saying there? And she said, well, it doesn't work. It doesn't work properly. Ah, OK, then what does it mean to break the Sabbath? I think too often we picture the Sabbath as some kind of this thing, this object. I was used to joke that I had a friend in high school, and I was over at his house all the time. I called his parents mom and dad, still do to this day. And they had this living room that with white carpet, I'd never seen anyone actually enter. You could still see the tracks from the vacuum from months before. I used to joke that I said, dude, you could get anything you wanted from your parents. Just walk into that room or hold out a pitcher of grape juice over it and go, oh, it's slipping. Give me the car keys. Or you can hold your parents ransom with that room. And I picture sometimes, that's my mental image of how some people picture the Sabbath. It's this room of pure white non-occupancy. You're not allowed to go in or do anything because it will end up defiling it. It will break the Sabbath. As if the Sabbath were such a fragile thing. You see Jesus constantly in the New Testament, popping pharisaic bubbles about the Sabbath. As he says, come on guys, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a time to be lived in and to do the Lord's work in and to heal the sick and raise the dead and bring life into what you've turned into dead space. No wonder our children can't stand the Sabbath. All these things I'm not allowed to do. Instead of, this is time to remember. It was designed based on what we've been seeing of when the Lord confirms the importance of the Sabbath. It's a day designed to accomplish three things. Number one, to create us. To move us from without form and void to something God himself would consider very good. Second, it is a day of deliverance. No longer in bondage. We can go free and stretch our wings, those eagle's wings that the Lord has brought us out on as we're headed towards his promised land. And it is a day of atonement. A day of new life, of rebirth and resurrection. A day where I can come unto God and emerge from the tombs of earthly emptiness to rejoice in newness of life with the Lord. So to my young friend, what does it mean to break the Sabbath? Anything you do or don't do, sins of commission or sins of omission, that keep the Sabbath from working properly. If the way you act on the Sabbath doesn't create you and deliver you and, and bring you back to life, then it was broken. It didn't work as intended. And so if you're wondering about your Sabbath day, then remember that. Remember those three things. God gives a gentle reminder of that in verse 11, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Rested, blessed, hallowed. Hallowed means to make it holy, to purify it, to sanctify it, to set it apart, to dedicate it, to consecrate it. We got plenty to do on the Sabbath, but it's all things that will make us more like God in beautiful, beautiful ways. With all that behind us, those first four, all of which point us in the vertical direction, loving God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. No other God to take his place. No graven image to distract from him. Wanting to fully live into that identity, take his name upon us with full purpose of heart, no vanity there, and honouring the day that he has given us to honour him and become more like him. After those four, I'm ready to shift to the horizontal plane and try to live into the second great commandment of loving my neighbour. First of all, are the neighbours closest to me, namely my own parents, my own family, immediate circle. Verse 12, honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Paul gives us an unique twist on this in the Book of Ephesians, where he says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. And then again, honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. Now, he said a couple of things there. Not only did he say honour thy father and thy mother, but he said obey thy parents, but then the caveat in the Lord. Is there a difference between honouring and obeying? I think so. And sometimes, especially if our parents aren't the type of people that we should be obeying, if obeying your earthly parents is going against disobeying your heavenly parents, then something's got to give. And which set of parents is it better to disobey? That should be an easy answer. But I thought I was supposed to honour them. Well, actually, living a righteous life is the most honourable thing you could ever do for your parents. It's the greatest source of honour for them. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Now, even if the parents themselves aren't walking in truth, or don't want their children to walk in truth, well, hopefully that's rare. But even in those cases, if I disobey them, I'm actually honouring them, trying to bring honour by the type of person I'm striving to become. I think that's why Paul says, obey your parents in the Lord. If they are in the Lord and you are too, then honouring and obeying will be the same. It's just the opposite where it might not be. But then notice also what Paul focused on. This is the first commandment with promise. Now, there's a promise attached to every commandment, right? That we receive blessings as they are predicated upon law. And receiving any blessing, it comes through obedience to the law upon which it is predicated. That's DNC 130. But this one is specifically mentioned in the Ten Commandments. The rest were do it, don't do it, thou shouts, thou shouts nots. But this one, here's the promise. Your days can be long upon the land. Hmm, how does that work? Now, some have joked, it's like, well, of course, if you don't obey your parents, you don't honor, they're going to kill you. Now, I took you into this world, I can take you out of it. Now, hopefully, that's not the case, right? But I do think there's something multigenerational here to look at. And how will my days belong upon the land if I honor my parents? Well, imagine my children seeing me do that. In these multigenerational families, remember Jethro, let's stay close, concentric circles. And if my children watch me truly honoring my parents in their old age, and visiting them or caring for them, I'm amazed at so many of you who have done that for so long. And caring for aged parents and changing where you live or what your lifestyle is, having them come in and move in with you, to see my mom's mom move in with my parents for the last little while of her life was an eye-opener for me. I hope as my parents get older, my children, I hope I'm just setting an example to my children of what it looks like to honor parents. Because if they internalize that and then honor me with their service and sacrifice and love when I'm nearing the end of my life, that would prolong my life and prolong the joy I feel in my life. And my days would be long upon the land which the Lord my God has given me. I do think that's one aspect of this that sometimes goes unappreciated. I think the same could be said just in terms of family life in general. Not just honoring parents, because Paul does that too. Yes, honor your parents, but parents, you better honor your children too. You better reciprocate, and make for good families. And if that's the case, then yes, that tends to longer and more happy life as well. Now beyond that, we now have the Castle by the Sea. These five last commandments, that they're all thou shalt nots. They're very short, very specific, very strict. Don't do these things. First, thou shalt not kill. Now life and death are God's territory. And that's not a place where we interfere. That's not a sin we should commit, because it's not a place where restitution is even possible. Thou shalt not kill. It's so important to understand the value of life that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes that law and raises it and says, it's not enough not just to kill. Don't even get angry. Let's draw a line, safe distance, that if you don't cross this one, you'll never cross that one, because that's a make it or break it. In verse 14, the seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. And that, again, back to the intimacy that must exist within the family and to be true and faithful to those covenants. God is going to use adultery as an analogy throughout much of the rest of the Old Testament in terms of Israel cheating on God in a relationship that was meant to be peculiar and treasured and confined just to them. It's scary to live in a world that does not take those kinds of covenants seriously at all and where adultery has become so normalized that people don't tend to bat an eye about it. The Lord bats an eye. In fact, he sheds a tear. And so does any person who has been cheated on by the person that they're most vulnerable to. There must be love and loyalty within marriage. And so thou shalt not commit adultery. There must be stability in your family's life. It's a stability that every child deserves. What did President McKay say? The greatest gift that a father can give to his children is to love their mother. That goes both ways. And to be true to one another is absolutely key. That's one that Jesus also elevated. The law says, don't commit adultery. I say, don't even look with lust. Don't cross that line. To keep that line absolutely inviolable. In verse 15, we get the Eighth Commandment. Thou shalt not steal. These are staccato statutes. Just boom, boom, boom. Don't kill. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. He's just laser focused, getting these into their hearts, engraving them on their fleshy tables. You need to memorize a verse. That's a short one. A lot of these commandments really are. Don't steal. There's trying to get something for nothing. Goes along with the idleness, slash idleness, I-D-L-E and I-D-O-L, we saw so often in the Book of Mormon. If it's worth getting, it's worth working for. It's worth earning, it's worth paying a price, it's worth sacrificing. Stealing, on the other hand, short-circuits all of that. It short-circuits the law of the harvest. It creates some mentality that really are shortcuts to your goals. What did we learn about the Tower of Babel? That's not the case. This same friend of mine, we're talking about his foster children, said, one of them was raised in a home that was so neglectful, that the only way she could provide for her meager needs was by stealing. And so from toddlerhood on, it was like you need it, you take it, because no one's ever going to provide it for you. And so when they adopted her, that was a learning curve. She just assumed that's what everybody did. You want it, you take it. That's it. You can only survive by stealing. And so to try to teach her in a loving way, not just, this is why it's so wrong. We don't do it. It's just, that's a line we don't cross. No, it was more a matter of love. Like somebody owns that. Somebody loves that thing or somebody paid for that thing and worked hard to be able to acquire it. And taking it from them would be such an unloving thing to do. See, I think too often stealing comes because we focus on the object instead of the owner of that object that we keep out of view. Whereas if I'm loving my neighbor as myself, how could I possibly steal from them? That is such an act of unkindness, as if that person didn't exist, or at least where it wasn't real to me. That's something I often feel when people steal or litter, or there's so many different aspects of this, where are other people not real to you? When will they pop into three dimension? Does it only happen when someone steals from you? Because you know that you're real. We have to be careful with that. In verse 16, we see the Ninth Commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. And as the Lord tells us in a later parable, everyone is our neighbor. And so how are our dealings with all our fellow man and woman? Are we honest in all those dealings? If not, that'll keep us out of the temple. Are we serious about that level of integrity? As Jesus would say, you shouldn't have to swear by heaven and earth on all these things. Just let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. Why do we need lawyers and writing things in triplicate and have it notarized and I'm going to sue you if you go against this contract? Is my word really not my bond? Can you not trust me? Interesting that in Section 76, when he's listing telestial sins, he includes dishonesty there. Among the big ones that you'd assume would send you to the telestial kingdom. Yes, he lists liars right alongside them. That is an area we need to improve on. Then the tenth, final of the Ten Commandments, verse 17, thou shalt not covet, and he gives us a pretty good list. It's not all-inclusive, by the way. You could keep adding. But thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, because that might lead to murder to get it. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, because that could lead to adultery to get her, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass. Those things might lead to stealing, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. That could lead to lying. I mean, this is such a gateway sin. In fact, it's interesting even as Jesus is raising the bar on all of these, covetousness seems to be one of those that if I could just keep that one, it's another way of raising the bar. It's another thing of drawing back, stepping back away from the line. And if I can just be content with what the Lord has allotted me, if I can honor other people and rejoice for them, that they have things that are desirable, good for them, I'm happy that they're happy. But also to realize where I am and be content and happy with that. You know, it's interesting, there's a great verse. I pointed this out last year in D&C 19, when Martin Harris is struggling with his own property and his own faith and his sacrifice. And the Lord just needs him to be willing to give up. Mortgage of the farm, we got to publish the Book of Mormon. It's going to sweep the earth with righteousness. But yes, EB. Grandin needs some money. So do it, just give up your farm if need be. But the way the Lord phrases it in D&C 19, he says, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely. Then I picture Martin Harris going, what? I thought, no, coveting is when you desire something you don't own. This belongs to me. You just said it. Don't covet thine own property. So you can't covet what already belongs to you. You can only covet what... Oh, okay. I see where you're going with that. And you put thine own property in quotes. You were winking as you said that. It's not really mine. It's yours. Uh-huh. And if it's mine, then quit coveting it as if it were yours. Just offer it. Offer it willingly, freely. And bless his heart, Martin Harris does. So powerful. If you are struggling with covetousness, by the way, I will give you one little out. Actually, Paul gives it to us all. He says you're allowed to covet. But he's very specific in terms of what you're allowed to covet. He says you should covet earnestly the best gifts. And he's talking about spiritual gifts there in 1 Corinthians 12. It's a great, great passage. The NC 46 says it similarly. It says desire or seek earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they were given. And he repeats it like five times in that chapter. They're given for other people. So all can be benefited. So all can grow. So all can learn. So all can be wise. It's for everybody else. And so that's covetousness in the most non-covetous way possible. I want those gifts so I have more to offer everyone else. That's beautiful. So if you're going to break one of the Ten Commandments, Paul gives you permission, but he only limits it to the 10th. And he only tells you you're allowed to covet best gifts. More used would I be, is how he would phrase it. And there's the Ten Commandments. If only those were all there were. But in some ways, that kind of is the case. There's really only two, love God, love neighbor. Everything else will fall under those two headings. That is the big umbrella. And you remember the bookend that came at the front? Remember me. This is who it's coming from. And then a bookend at the end. Let me reiterate who this is coming from and how important I feel about this. So in verse 18, all the people saw the thunderings, the lightnings, the noise of the trumpet, the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they were moved and stood far off. Oh, no, no, no, don't run. Don't run. Remember, you're supposed to be able to come up and hear and see and experience all this for yourself. Well, I needed to reiterate and reconfirm how serious I am about all that. So hence the thundering and lightning. But I hope I didn't scare you off. That seems to be the case. They removed, they stood far off. And sadly, I think sometimes that happens when we think about the commandments of God. Does it scare us away from the kind of blessings that are attached to every law? I heard a story once years ago about a missionary in Japan that met somebody like at the train station or something that didn't seem, I don't know why, but he just, he was really interested. But the missionaries were like, no, this guy's too good to be true. He must be pulling our leg, and guy seems like, no, I want to join your church. And it's like, you don't even know anything about our church. What do you mean you want to join it? And so I would never recommend this missionary tactic. But instead of teaching the gospel and presenting the plan first, so that then the covenants and commandments are in context, no, they went straight for the commandments because they were trying to scare them off. Like you don't, yeah, right, you want to join our church. Nobody wants to join our church without even hearing about it. So have you heard about the law of tithing? You have to give 10% of everything you own. That's what it takes to be part of this church. And he's like, I'll do it. Awesome. I just want to join your church. They're like, no, well, what about the law of chastity? You probably never heard that, you know, and you got to be chaste and virtuous and so on. And so that's definitely going to scare you away. So no, it doesn't scare me. It sounds awesome. I just remember kind of smiling in disbelief as I heard this story. Like, seriously, you were trying to scare people away with the commandments of God? Well, that shows you how twisted your view of the commandments is that these are obstacles when really they're invitations. God intends them to be invitations to greater happiness and peace and rest, like Abraham wanted, crowned with commandments, not a few, like D&C 59 tells us. Now, don't remove yourself just because of the rules God has given. Don't go afar off because the commandments are meant to draw you in. In verse 19, they said in to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. Again, tragic that they think God is unapproachable. He isn't. You can come. Please do. Just be worthy and ready when you do. That's what all of these commandments are meant to affect in you, a readiness, a change of heart. In verse 20, Moses said in to the people, Fear not. That's the reassurance they needed. God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. Interesting, he'd say, Fear not, because God is doing this so that you can fear him. Like, well, okay, we must have two different definitions. There's two kinds of fear, and don't let the wrong kind keep you from God. Let the right kind prepare you to come into his presence. Reverence and respect and awe. Elder Christopherson gave an amazing talk called Sense of the Sacred, totally worth re-reading or listening to. And in it, he talks about the fear of God. And yeah, it's reverence. Yes, it's respect. But he even said, maybe there's an element of actual fear that needs to be part of that fear of God, too. It's the fear of disappointing him. And that comes out of love, not a lack of courage, okay? Moses is trying to help the people develop that kind of fear. In fact, God is the one trying to help them do it. Hence the thunders and lightnings and so forth. Verse 21 doesn't seem like it's quite working yet. The people still stood afar off. But Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. Wait, thick darkness where God was? I thought he is the Lord of Light. Well, yeah. When it makes me think about a black hole, for example, that such intense darkness, because it draws all light into itself, that's how strong that gravitational pull is. Not even light can escape. When it does, it escapes gloriously to the point of creating worlds without number. But to think of the source of all light wrapped up in this thick darkness, and can we see the presence within that mysterious absence? Are we coming unto God? In 22, the Lord says to Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You understand what has just happened? I'm here. I'm real. I'm willing to communicate. If you're just willing to come, as a result, let me say it again. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. Now that you know me and know that nothing can rival me, I hope living those first few commandments will come more easily. No need to make a god of silver or god of gold. He's come full circle back to the first great commandment. Instead, what should you make? Verse 24, make an altar. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, thy noxen, in all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. Sound like Abraham erecting altars everywhere he went? Sound like Jacob making sure there were pillars that he was setting up, pointing heaven, these mini mountains of the Lord, growing out of gospel ground? That's an altar. That's a pillar. And it's meant to remind us that these are places where God has recorded his name. Go into any temple in the church. And what do you see? In letters of gold, holiness to the Lord, the house of the Lord. He has recorded his name there. And it's places like that where the Lord will come to be with us, where he will come to bless us. And then a little clarification here, verse 25. If that will make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. For if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. That's an interesting detail. So unhewn stone. Hmm. Does that suggest that when God wants us to come, he really does want us to come as we are? Not to stay as we were, don't get me wrong, but whatever shape or form, whatever degree of polish or lack thereof, just come, sacrifice. The altar itself is a place of sacrifice. And so sacrifice yourself, your lesser version, and just come in your unhewn natural man state. I will begin the crafting. This master mason, which is God, chipping away every rough edge and making us into a stone worth building with, worth building upon one of his jewels, peculiar people. It makes me think also of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, when the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, but Daniel helped him understand. There's the kingdom of God. It is a rough stone rolling. And to see this unhewn stones coming together as people in our unfinished state, still trying to be fit together, fitly framed upon this foundation of prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, right? We call in Ephesians. If we can be fitly framed together, oh, the altar will end up being a beautiful place of sacrifice. The stone cut out of the mountain. It wasn't us. We didn't hew it, but God did. And so we'll leave the further hewing to him. And then one last piece of instruction, verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. Now, you could take that as purely modesty speaking. If there's a ladder that you're walking up, and as you're wearing long robes, then someone down below looking up as you're ascending the ladder to go to this altar of sacrifice, yes, you would be exposed to them. So no, don't do that. Build a ramp so that people just walk up and there's no danger of being exposed before them. Well, in some ways, I do love, beyond the literal, coming to God, knowing we are only exposed to His all-seeing eye, and not worrying what other people might think, that there's no danger of being exposed to them. It's only God that will have the eyes to see. And as I come to Him in my unhewn state, I can come and offer my sins upon that altar. And He will cover my nakedness, so there is nothing to be ashamed of. I do think that's a beautiful ending to a chapter on commandments. Just come. Come to the altar of sacrifice. Lay your sins down. Those broken commandments, the ones you just couldn't keep. And I will remake you, refashion you, polish every stone. I will cover your nakedness. Now, we could end there. And those are the Ten Commandments. But to see, and I'll try to do this more briefly, in Chapter 21, 22, and 23, there is these smaller laws and statutes and ordinances that God gives the people. Well, I think the Jews count 613 laws within the law of Moses. We're not going to see 603 today after the 10 that we've already covered. But there are some amazing things that I'll try to fly through in these three chapters, okay? Bear with me. This first one is one of my absolute favorites. In fact, every returned missionary I meet, I try to point them to this passage. It's a weird one. I'll usually tell them in advance, oh, you're back from your mission. Remind me where you went or what was it like? And what do you think? What's your plan from here? And we're kind of getting back up to speed with old students or old friends. And I'll often say to them, now, don't forget to go get your ear pierced now that you're home. And they're like, what? Though the sister missionaries look at me like, I got my ears pierced when I was a teenager. And the guys, the elders look at me like, what are you talking about? I'm like, no, that's the most important thing a recently returned missionary can do, is go get your ear pierced. And as they're wondering what on earth I mean, I say, haven't you read Exodus 21? Now, with that lead in, who can resist having to turn to the page and see what on earth I'm talking about? Well, this is what I'm talking about. Verses 1 through 6 is a law against perpetual servitude. And that's important for Israel, since they were in perpetual servitude, slavery for four centuries plus back in Egypt. So we gotta make sure that never happens again, ever. So here's the rule. Verse 2, if thou buy an Hebrew servant, this could be indentured servitude, slavery was allowed at that time period. It just wasn't race-based as it's been in ours. But if you buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve. In the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. So seventh day, day of rest, seventh year, year of rest. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. So after six years, you're free to go. Thank you. I purchased all this service. Thank you for rendering it. And now you're free to leave. Unless you don't want to go. Perhaps you came with nothing and now you have so much. Perhaps you're married and have children and you don't just want to leave. Perhaps even better, you have come to love the master that you have been serving. Now, this would suggest a very good master, one that's been a blessing to you as much as you've been a blessing to him. Well, under those conditions, look at verse 5. If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, my children, I will not go out free. If there's this desire to remain, then you can stay. But there's going to need to be a way to prove to other people that you're here by choice and not by compulsion. Otherwise, your master could get in trouble. I'm not keeping them here against their will. They just love it. I can't let them go. They don't want to leave. Well, what are we going to do to make sure that people know that? Well, verse 6 gives us that answer. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges. Well, this is going to be a public act. The world's going to know. He shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost. And here's where it gets weird. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. Now, do you understand why I tell return missionaries to go get their ear pierced? Because that's what the servant's supposed to do. Wait, you want to stay? You want to serve? Okay, well, you want to be attached to the household. Okay, we can symbolize that. Bring the judges over, stand here next to the door, that same door frame that holds the blood of the lamb on Passover. And let's shed a little of your own blood to mingle with that. Let's make you a permanent fixture here in our household. And I will nail you to my wall with an awl through your earlobe. Don't worry, you won't stay long. I'll pull it out and we'll clean the wound. But you'll have a pierced ear for the rest of your life so that people will see, oh, you want to keep serving. Now, do you understand why I suggest this for return missionaries? I'll often say to them, elder, sister, you served your time. You paid your dues if you want to look at that. If you're done, then I guess we won't hold it against you, because there's no such thing as perpetual servitude in the kingdom of God. Our father, the king, doesn't believe in slavery, right, Ammon? But if through this service, you have come to truly love your master and recognize that every gift that you have in life has come from him, then wouldn't you want to just stay and serve forever? As I've said to my return missionaries, getting my ear pierced post-mission was the best thing I ever did, and no, you won't see any holes in my earlobes, not the literal kind. But spiritually speaking, I have done all I can to attach myself to the house of God, to continue rendering service that I hope is acceptable to him because I really do love my master. So my friends, please get your ear pierced. Just stay and keep serving. The next set of verses, he teaches about plural marriage, which is tricky, hard. Monogamy is hard and polygamy is even harder. But there's some interesting things here. In verse 7, if a man sell his daughter to be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men's servants do. So we're growing from verse 6 into verse 7. And there it's like, wait a minute, they don't get to go free on the seventh year? That's not fair. Oh, girls can have perpetual servitude, but not boys. What's up with this misogyny? No, this is actually to help them. Because if it's a maid servant that is a concubine, for example, because this leads into what he's going to explain next about plural marriage, then if you were just to send them off after six years, that's the worst possible thing you could do. Because who's going to care for her? In that time period where women sadly were at the mercy of men for so many things, but to be provided for and to be protected, those were good things. They deserved from their husbands or their fathers or their brothers. Then you better not just send them out like some kind of, how used commodity and I'm no longer interested. No, this is marriage. Think of Hagar, think of Bilha, think of Zilpah, all of whom were maidservants, handmaids of their mistress, Sarah or Rachel or Rebecca. Sending them away would leave them unprotected and unprovided for and you must not do that. Now, if there was not a marriage, though marriage was originally intended, look at verse 8, if she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed, which is what happens with Ruth and Boaz, we'll see later. So again, make sure she's provided for. To sell her unto a strange nation, he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. If you intended to marry her and ended up not, then this is not some kind of possession. You've deceived her. She did not receive what she assumed she was receiving in this. And so you are not allowed to sell her to someone else. No, she is allowed to go free and find a life of her own. And like I said, that's exactly what happens with Ruth. She is redeemed by someone else, by Boaz. In verse 9, if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. Which goes back to what we learned about Jethro, that daughters-in-law, according to that passage, should be treated no differently than daughters. A daughter-in-law must be a daughter-in-love, and there's no second-class citizenship here. Take care of one another, provide for one another, especially those that are most vulnerable, as described in the women in these verses. In verse 10, if he take him another wife, this is where we get into plural marriage, her food, her raiment, her duty of marriage, there's intimacy, shall he not diminish. So in plural marriage, every wife is meant to be treated equally, respectfully, not second-class citizens there either. It's interesting that within this culture that allows it, in places where God had commanded it, he's still concerned for every member of the family. That's important to keep in mind when it comes to God. In verse 11, if he do not these three unto her, the three of protecting and providing for, of treating like immediate family, and of treating them equally, if you don't do these three, then shall she go out free without money, which suggests that they are not required to stay in an unacceptable, unhealthy situation. In fact, in plural marriage during the Utah period, there were incredibly liberal divorce laws. Really interesting. The harder the marriage, the easier the divorce. That's the way they did it in pioneer Utah. Sadly, in our day where monogamy seems so much easier compared to polygamy, marriage is easier, and sadly, divorce is even easier than that. No fault divorce doesn't even need to be a reason. Well, there better have been a good reason. We'll see that in what Moses teaches and in what Jesus teaches about what Moses taught. But in this case, no, you are free. You don't have to confine yourself to a toxic relationship, and only you and the Spirit can be the judge of what determines that kind of toxic relationship. But it is interesting to read those verses and see how God is providing for the vulnerable, how he's taking care of the potentially marginalized and making sure that they are protected as well. Now, from verse 12 all the way through verse 36, you'll see a ton of civil and criminal law being legislated here and legislated by God himself. Pretty good source. The most famous is what you see in verses 23 through 25. And then when we sometimes think of the law of Moses, this is often how we summarize it. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Now admittedly that sounds barbaric by modern standards. An eye for an eye, isn't that what Gandhi said? That would just make the whole world blind. But that's just from our perspective. From an Egyptian perspective, this is a huge leap in the right direction. Again, we're raising foster kids, and we're trying to unlearn the Egyptian in them and relearn the Israelite. So let's go from a T-lustral level at least up to a terrestrial. Celestial can wait for a while as we acclimatize. You see, eye for an eye, at least that's just what might it have been in Egypt. You put out somebody else's eye and they come back with a vendetta for your life itself. And you'll pay with that with your own life's blood. Now that is unjust. So to go from unjust, a life for an eye, to just an eye for an eye, and then later with Christ, what do you say we turn the other cheek and love our enemies? How's that sound? Well, like I said, it's going to take a while to overcome altitude sickness and rise to that level of living. But even thinking about this terrestrial level, the justice of an eye for an eye, what good does that do? Again, that's what I think Gandhi is pushing back against. That serves no purpose. Now we're just all blind. Well, if nothing else, it does let you feel what you've caused someone else. I call that the principle of enforced empathy. We will see more of that in a moment. I hinted at it when we were talking about Joseph in Egypt. You wouldn't feel what Joseph was going through when you sold him into Egypt. Well, you will feel what it's like when you're thrown into prison yourself. There's the principle of enforced empathy. Well, let's see it as it comes up. Verse 12, here's some more nuance to this criminal and civil law. Verse 12 suggests that full punishment is required when the crime you committed was on purpose. But 13 says, well, if it's an accident, then you can claim sanctuary. So that's good to know. We do have to take into consideration intent. Is this murder or manslaughter? Is this willful negligence? Or is this some kind of accidental oversight? But can that be pushed in the wrong direction? Can that be taken to the extreme? Well, verse 14 pushes back against that. So yes, there's sanctuary for those that weren't malicious in their intent but ended up doing something wrong. But you can't go claim sanctuary when you don't deserve it. So don't, we're not trying to abuse justice, but neither are we trying to abuse mercy. Interesting to watch these laws trying to help Israel settle into this Goldilocks Zone, proving the contrary. Verse 15, he that smiteth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. Yikes. And then two verses later, same goes for those who curse his father or his mother. And I've seen some people push back against that and says, talk about barbaric. What kind of horrible parent would, would, I mean, death penalty for talking smack to mom and dad? There'd be a lot less population on the planet. Well, maybe so, but could you also say there'd be a lot less poor parenting? Because I think sometime, it goes back to what Paul was saying about, yes, honor your parents, but parents don't provoke your children. And I wonder if a parent, can you imagine if that were, were enforced really, really strictly? How hard a parent would work to raise children that would be respectful and, and kind and not smite them and not curse them? I wonder, is this a warning to children? Or is it a warning to parents? Because even at their most belligerent, when a child acts up, I don't think there's a parent on earth that would want them to pay for it with capital punishment. I see that as motivation for both parent and child to seek peace and love at home and work things out within the home whenever possible, even without having to go to even a lowly ruler of ten. Now we're going to work on this. Okay. Good. Good motivation. Verse 16, He that stealeth a man, that's kidnapping, and selleth him, that sounds like Joseph in Egypt, or if he be found in his hands, so it hasn't even happened yet, but he intends to, he shall surely be put to death. Did Joseph's brothers deserve the death penalty, which puts his forgiveness on an even more exalted plane? In verse 18 and 19, we see workers' compensation if you injure someone. If that happens, he shall pay for the loss of his time. Later in 26 and 27, if the servant loses an eye or a tooth, then they're free to go. That's their compensation. That's even better than an eye for an eye. It's like eye for freedom. No, please poke mine. I want to get out of here. In 22, here's protection for pregnant women. God seems to be thinking of everything. If men strive and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit, that's her child, depart from her, so there's a miscarriage, and yet no mischief follow, so the woman herself survives, he shall be surely punished according as the woman's husband will lay upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. So, wrongful miscarriage, there has to be punishment. He will surely pay for that, surely punished. But there's not a specific punishment, which is interesting. It's actually more just this way because how far along is she in the pregnancy, for example? What are the specific circumstances of the case? Those all need to be weighed in the balance, okay? So that's good there. Also, well, who's going to decide? Two parties. I love this difference. The husband, the father of this child that has been miscarried, and the judges. You see, the husband brings in the personal side and the judges bring in the impersonal. I really do believe both of those are necessary to properly balance justice and mercy. With the husband there, you better believe there's going to be justice, but with the judges there, there's going to be greater opportunity for mercy to intervene, to try to take all the details into consideration. That's such a barbaric law that we sometimes chalk up to the law of Moses. In verse 28, here's involuntary manslaughter. If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, so there's the manslaughter, but it was involuntary, it was an accident, the ox did it. Then what's the result? You kill the ox, but not the owner.

Speaker 1:
[108:15] Hmm.

Speaker 2:
[108:15] Okay. That's logical. The owner didn't do it, so it wasn't life for life there, but the ox did, and the ox will pay with its life. Again, as an owner of that ox reliant on its work, then that's good motivation for me to keep my oxen well-behaved. In fact, what happens if that doesn't happen? Notice verse 29, But if the ox were want to push with his horn in time past. In other words, there's a history here. He keeps doing that. This is an honorary beast. And if it hath been testified to his owner, so now it's known this isn't ignorance, and he hath not kept him in, so now it's willful negligence, then it is a capital crime if the ox kills someone. You had every opportunity to save the other person, to change things. You knew about it. You didn't act on it. So now it is life for life, capital crime. If, on the other hand, verse 32, if the ox shall push a man servant or a maid servant, he shall give unto their master 30 shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. That goes back to the involuntary manslaughter. A man servant or maid servant is worth preserving and protecting also, right? All life is valuable. But it is interesting what that determines as far as, yes, the ox still has to be stoned as before, but because of the time period and the culture that allowed for servitude or slavery, that this doesn't just affect the person who died from the ox, but it affects the owner of that person's service. And what's the price then of a slave? 30 pieces of silver. That should tell us something about Judas and the blood price on Jesus. If they're younger, we learn this back with Joseph. If they're younger, then it's 20 pieces. Here it's 30. Well, keep going. Liability laws, again, for willful negligence, that comes up in 33 and 34. If a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, well, then the owner of the pit shall make it good and give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his. Again, you could have avoided it. You, this was willful negligence on your part. And since somebody else's animal died, well, here's some of that enforced empathy. Then you give, you buy it, you just bought yourself a dead animal. You make it right, whatever that takes. And there's some leeway there too, in terms of how much is that animal value? What's it worth to that owner? You have to decide together. You have to make it right. And since the animal died, I just bought it. You break it, you buy it. I guess that's where it comes from. Verse 35 is speaking of no fault accidents. If one man's ox hurt another's that he die, so this is just animal against animal, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money of it. And the dead ox also, they shall divide. So it was an accident, no fault on either part, but something happened. And it shouldn't all be on, only one party shouldn't have to bear the loss. The accident, both parties should share the loss. So you'll share the blame and you'll share the loss together. So let's take whichever one's alive. Well, we're both going to lose it, but we'll sell it and split the money. The one that died, we both lost, so we'll lose something there, but it's something to gain as far as the meat and hide, and so is concerned. So we'll split that too. This one actually makes me think of Solomon and these two mothers that were fighting over the one living child. Well, let's just treat it like the old law of Moses, and you guys can split everything. You can split the living child, you can split the dead child. We'll just play totally fair on this, which as you know from that story, proved incredibly wise because the true mother came forth. Well, there's Chapter 21. Chapter 22, more laws, miscellaneous laws, you might call them. Verse 1, punishment for theft. There has to be enough risk in terms of danger of punishment to offset the reward, which was that unlawful gain. So if you steal one, then how much are you going to have to repay in terms of restitution? Is it one to five? Is that enough risk-reward ratio? Was it one to four in terms of a different animal? We're going to work these through depending on the situation. In verse 2, it's a law about death from self-defense. We call this castle doctrine, that if somebody breaches my moat and comes into my castle, I am free to defend myself and my property. And that comes out in Exodus 22 verse 2. The theme in the first 15 verses of this chapter is all about restitution. So notice language like verse 1, restore five oxen for an ox or four sheep for a sheep. In verse 3, make full restitution. In verse 4, restore double. Verse 5, make restitution of the best of his own. So I'm not going to replace your good ox with a lousy one on my part. Nope. If I have to restore, I'm going to give you the very best that I have. In verse 6, how about surely make restitution? Or 7, pay double. 9, pay double. 12, make restitution. 14, surely make it good. That same phrase we saw a chapter ago. So much of this is trying to establish equity, justice among people that had been treated like cattle for 430 years. Just here to do our work and there is no justice there. We're trying to even the playing field and treat everyone with respect and a sense of self and a sense of ownership and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's all part of this. Verse 16 and 17 will expand beyond this the restitution for theft or loss. If a man entice a maid that is not betrothed and lie with her. Now, is this rape? Is it simply fornication? Simply, that's wrong too. Well, what's the punishment? He shall surely endow her to be his wife. I guess this is where shotgun weddings come from. On the other hand, if her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, absolutely no way, no shotgun wedding here. I want to use my shotgun for something else though. Well, he shall pay money according to the dowery of virgins. So in some ways here, if there is intimacy outside of wedlock, you need to take responsibility for it. In some cases, that means marriage. Perhaps in other cases, that means having the baby and putting it up for adoption. In some ways, does that mean child support and alimony? It's treating people as they deserve to be treated, even when something and some wrongdoing has taken place. In the case of, nope, the father is absolutely opposed to any kind of marriage, then what's interesting here is the guilty party still has to pay him according to the dowery of a virgin. It's like if this was not a safe relationship and I do not want my daughter in this kind of a situation, most of the times when a father gives his daughter, the husband-to-be provides some kind of a dowery. Seven years of labor, Jacob, for Rachel or for Leah. What will you give? Well, at this point, she's no longer a virgin. Through no fault of her own, it would seem in this verse. And I do love the idea here that if the man is to blame in the situation, then the woman is to be treated no differently than a virgin would be. And I hope that we understand that in terms of rape, and no loss of chastity on the woman's part if she is not to blame. And the same is true if a woman rapes a man. There's something important in that verse to consider. In verse 18–20, the Lord speaks of witchcraft and forbids it. In the Joseph Smith translation, it actually changes it to murder. So that's an interesting switch. Also forbids bestiality and idolatry. Kind of quick succession through those three major sins. Then verse 21, Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him. And here's why, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Now, he didn't need that ending. It still would be wrong to vex a stranger or to oppress someone, some foreigner. No, they deserve to be cared for and treated as a real person. Come on, father of Gershom, you were a stranger in a strange land, but that's why I love the end. It's not just a matter of right and wrong, it's a matter of personal experience. If your conscience doesn't propel you to keep this commandment, then surely your own memory should. You know what it's like to be a stranger. You know what it's like to be vexed and oppressed in a foreign land. And so you better treat others. So this is an interesting twist on the Golden Rule. It's not just treat them as you would want to be treated, but treat them as you wished that you had been treated when you were going through similar things. This is compassion, suffering with, born out of shared suffering. I know exactly how that feels, and I will treat you kindly as a result, compassionately, empathetically. Now this is where enforced empathy has the chance to come in. Because there in 21, it's you know what it's like. In fact, the next chapter later, although we just skip ahead for a moment, in Exodus 23, verse 9, he reiterates it, but makes it even more personal. Also, thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I love how it elevates that. It's not just that you know what being a stranger is, it's you know their heart. That's a deeper, visceral gut, yadah, I know intimately. Just how damaging that is and how devastating it can be. And of course, if I have the heart of a stranger still, then what will well up within that heart? Pure, unforced empathy. A desire to serve out of personal experience. Now, what if you don't lean in to that personal experience? Oh, it must be that you've forgotten it. Well, then let me remind you. Or perhaps you never went through such things yourself, and therefore have no personal experience upon which to draw your empathy. Well, I can help with that as well. And this is one of the more brutal passages of enforced empathy you'll see in scripture. Buckle up for this one. So right after verse 21, we're back in chapter 22 again. Verse 21, don't vex a stranger. You know what it's like. Then 22, in case you've forgotten, you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. Maybe you haven't been one of those. If thou afflict them in any wise, so anything here, if they cry at all unto me, then guess what happens. I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath shall whack. This is righteous indignation, and it comes for good reason. And what will happen? I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. How is that for enforced empathy? Would you prefer compassion chosen or compassion compelled? That is intense. You don't…what you do to a widow or an orphan, because you don't care enough to try to put yourself in their shoes, you don't try to feel what they might feel in their broken hearts, then let me break the hearts of the people you care most about. You won't even be around to make the difference. And, your wife and your children, those widows, those orphans, will be left at the mercy of people that are, hopefully, better than you. You understand what he's saying here? God is so serious about caring for the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable. The least of these, my brethren, we've done it unto him, so we better be careful here. In 25 to 27, he's still worried about the poor and needy. He forbids usury, that's charging interest, because debt will only further impoverish the poor. If you loan them money, are you trying to help them, or are you trying to hurt them? So be careful with that. If their collateral is all they have, then let them keep it in times of need. I love the way he puts it in 26. If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, so all he's got is this cloak, this coat, and that's his collateral, loan me money just to make it through the day, then notice what the creditor has to do. Thou shalt deliver it unto him, by that the sun goeth down. For that is his covering only, it's his raiment for his skin. Wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass when he cryeth unto me that, I will hear, for I am gracious. I love the end of that. I'm gracious. Will you be? If that coat is all he has, and he's giving that to you as collateral for some kind of loan just to make it to the next harvest or to make it to the next meal, that might as well be his skin. So don't skin the poor alive. Don't fleece them. Just give. Loan? Let him pay it back. Trust him at least that much. Be gracious to him as I'm gracious to him and gracious to you as well. This whole chapter could be summarized by the final verse. Ye shall be holy men unto me. That's what I'm after. To be ready to come up to the Mount, to be worthy of it, to be holy, just as I am holy. And holy nation is what I intended you to become when I first called you my peculiar treasure. Then one more chapter, more miscellaneous laws in 23. Verse 1 outlaws false accusations. He says, thou shalt not raise a false report. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Now, this goes back to the Ninth Commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness. But even more than that, don't even raise a false report. Does this include gossip? Does this include talking behind someone's back or spreading rumors that may not be founded, or even if they are? Is this contributing to a contaminated social media feed and just piling on? It's scary, the level of discourse that we've descended to. Social media so often becomes just a matter of raising false reports and putting our hands with the wicked to be unrighteous witnesses. In verse 2, thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. You sense peer pressure in that verse? Just go in with the flow of perverting justice by siding with a majority that doesn't deserve your allegiance. Now, far better to be in the minority that speaks up in defense of truth. Don't follow the multitude. That's going with the crowd. Don't decline after many to rest judgment, to twist the outcome, to decline. That's just a great verb, the way the King James translators spelled it out. You're descending to their level. Don't do that. Don't decline. In verse 3, neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. Now, the JST changes that to a wicked man. And countenance means to show favoritism. So don't show favoritism towards a wicked man in his cause. That's just helping the wicked rule, and that's not what we want. But even if you stick with the King James original, it's interesting to take verse 3. Don't play favorites to the poor. And then couple it with verse 6. Thou shalt not rest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. So neither pride nor pity should interfere with justice here. We're not going to treat the poor any differently. They don't deserve any more justice or any less justice than anyone else, or any more or less mercy. We are going to treat all people equally. So often in paintings or statues of Lady Justice, she's blindfolded, right? She holds the scales in her hand to suggest that it needs to, everyone needs to be weighed in the balances equally, and that justice will be blind so that we're not treating one person differently just because of unrelated circumstances. Interesting as we see it there. In verse 4, If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. So I guess loving thine enemy isn't just a New Testament directive. Even if this animal belongs to your enemy and they're wandering somewhere. Yes, burden yourself, go out of your way. Wouldn't you want them to do the same? We're just reciprocity. This is hospitality. This is golden rule. Live into it. And I would add, if you would do this for a wandering animal, how much more should we be concerned about a wandering child? And I don't just mean physically, I do mean spiritually. Will we go out of our way for anyone whose child may be lost from the straight and narrow path? Will we reach out to help them find their way home? In verse 5, he says something similar. If thou seeth the ass of him that hateth thee, he may or may not feel the same towards them. But if you see one of their animals lying under his burden and wouldst forbear to help him, I don't want to help, he's my enemy, then thou shalt surely help with him. I don't care how you feel, get over it. Overcome the natural man and see this other person as someone just as in need of help as you would be. I don't care what your lesser emotions might be, push back against them and be better than you otherwise would. In verse 7, keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay the not, for I will not justify the wicked. So there beware of false accusations, be far from a false matter. No innocent person should ever pay the price for a crime they didn't commit. There's a suggestion in that verse of innocent until proven guilty. In verse 8, thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverted the words of the righteous. So there's no bribery. Even beyond that, be careful about accepting gifts where strings are attached. Even the church refuses to take a lot of government aid in a lot of different areas, and that's to avoid the strings that are almost always attached to money. So beware of those kinds of quote unquote gifts. In verse 10, six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof, but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still. So this sounds a lot like what we saw with servitude, but now it's the land itself. There should be a Sabbath year even for the earth. And then he explains another reason why. That the poor of thy people may eat, and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner, thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy oliveyard. So yes, a Sabbath for the land, but a chance for the poor to provide for themselves? We'll see later the law against reaping the corners of the field. Or after you've gone through once for the harvest, don't go back through and make sure you pick every last grape, or gather every last grain, because the poor need something to live on too. God is always so concerned about the least of these, his brethren, as we should be. So on that seventh year, just let the land recover, and let the poor find whatever they can find in those fields, growing by the hand of God. Here's God providing for the lowly. And even after the poor have eaten, suggesting there's enough for them and to be full, then let the beasts graze, and they can get some, perhaps a little better feed than what they've been used to, because they can just forage and feed wherever they choose. Okay? It is interesting to me to see that God cares for the land, and the poor, and animals, and how's our ecology? How do we treat living creatures, and how do we treat the poor? God cares about them all. In verse 12, he repeats then the command for rest on the Sabbath day and then shifts to a larger picture in verse 14. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. He says it again in 17. Three times in the year, all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Now, these are the three main pilgrimage feasts, where Jews were supposed to all gather back to Jerusalem to perform their sacrifices at the temple. We'll see that coming up later and to celebrate the nation of Israel coming back together as one. Now, these three feasts are listed in 15 and 16. Fifteen talks about the feast of unleavened bread that we studied a few weeks ago, right? The day after Passover is one day and the next seven days are the feast of unleavened bread. Some lump it all together and speak of the eight days of unleavened bread. The next one in 16, the feast of harvest, also known as the first fruits, because the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field, are being gathered. And then end of 16, the third feast, the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. Now, I'll admit, feast of harvest and feast of ingathering sound a lot of like. But they are different. And one refers to the earliest harvests, and the other refers to the last harvests. So bookending, all the gifts of God that he's given you, from first fruits to final harvest, do we see the hand of God behind it all? First do we see the hand of God behind our own deliverance from Egypt, where we could grow our own food instead of just growing it for the Egyptians, or working for them, slaving for them? And then to begin to rejoice over what we are providing for ourselves, what God is providing for us, and to keep that in mind, knowing that we will rejoice once again with him when the final fruit comes in. See, here's the three. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, there's Pesach or Passover. The Feast of Harvest, that's Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost. And the Feast of Ingathering, known as Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. And remember those three, Passover, Deliverance from Egypt, and the New Planting Season, to be honest. They can finally grow their own crops. The Feast of Pentecost or Weeks, because it comes 50 days, which is 7 times 7 plus 1. So there's the Pentecost, 50. There's the Weeks, 7 of them, after Passover. And that's when the wheat harvest first comes in. And then the Feast of Ingathering, the completion of the late fall harvest. By the way, in later tradition, some additional purposes of celebration were attached to some of those. Unleavened bread didn't need anything extra. Deliverance from Egypt is huge. But the Feast of Harvest and the Feast of Ingathering, or Pentecost and Tabernacles, got an added layer of meaning as time went on to go beyond just the agricultural cycle. Shavuot became a commemoration of the giving of the Torah. That not only is God providing us food to eat, but also the Word of God to live on. Man shall not live by bread alone, right, manna? So, there's the Torah, and sometimes Shavuot is even celebrated like, let's stay up all night and study Scripture. Oh, there's a good goal for Unshaken Saints, right? Can we last that long? And then the Feast of Tabernacles is also meant to commemorate their wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, where they were in tabernacles themselves, little tents, little booths. And so, if you see in modern Judaism, often they'll make some kind of a canopy out in the backyard or someplace and go eat their meals there. Some will even sleep out there. It's a great backyard camping trip for the kids. But to commemorate the fact that God led them through their wilderness wanderings and ultimately brought them to the greatest of harvests, a promised land flowing with milk and honey. These three great pilgrimage feasts are definitely worth remembering for ancient Israel and even modern Israel as well. Do we see God's hand in our deliverance and in the providence that He always gives us, both physically and spiritually? Then verse 18 and 19, speaking more of specific sacrificial offerings, that shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. Again, it's always got to be unleavened, no yeast to cause decay, no sin involved. Neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. It's all got to be used up. The first of the first fruits of thy land, thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. So not just the first lens of the flocks, but also the first lens or the first fruits of the field. This is, I'm hungry, I want to eat. Well, pray first. I want to feed myself. Well, remember God first and foremost. Verse 19 is a weird one. It says, Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. What? Don't boil a baby goat in the milk of its mother? Okay. Now some scholars have suggested there was some pagan fertility cult in the ancient Near East, surrounding Israel, that that's what they did as part of their fertility rights. That, hey, we're trying to ensure a good harvest next season. So we'll take a baby goat, we'll take its mother and milk it, and then we'll boil the baby goat in the mother's milk, and then we'll take the milk and eat combination and kind of sprinkle it across the fields as some sort of sacrificial fertility right. Well there, on one level, God is saying, yeah, let's not do that, shall we? Just trust that God will provide, and we're not, you don't have to make, in some ways, let's not go down that road of superstition. We'll stick with sacrifice, but not superstition, and those are very different. Even just common humanity. I mean, the baby goat wouldn't know what's going on, but we would, and doesn't it just kind of sit not well with you, the thought of any animal being boiled in the milk of its mother? What I think it's suggesting here is, what should be providing life and sustenance should never bring about destruction instead. To me, there's a lesson there about child abuse, and you're supposed to be loving this child, not harming it. Now, one other twist on this actually, modern Judaism, this rule, this law is taken to mean that meat and dairy should never be combined. As far as, that doesn't spell, isn't spelled out in the Old Testament. But based on that verse, don't see the kid in its mother's milk. You never know where this meat came from or where this milk comes from. And so just in case it might be, then let's steer clear of the entire thing and never combine milk and meat in the same dish. So no, you can either have, when I was in Israel and you'd go to like the Jerusalem Pizza Hut, well, you're not going to get a pizza with both meat and cheese. You can either have the sauce and the meat, or you can have the sauce and the cheese, but cheese and meat, you can go to the McDonald's and don't ask for a cheeseburger, because that's not kosher either. In fact, we had a rabbi that was one of our professors at the Jerusalem Center. And he said that in very strict Orthodox homes, there's such a differentiation between milk and meat that they won't even share space on the same plate, let alone the same object or the same item of food. He said, in richer homes, often they'll even have two sets of dishes, where one set of dishes is for meat dishes and the other set is for milk dishes and never the twain shall meet. He said, in even wealthier homes, you might have two dishwashers. And one where the plates from the meat dishes and one for the plates from the milk dishes because you don't want them mixing within the dishwasher. And take it up another notch. And if you're really wealthy, you might end up having two kitchens. And one is where you cook the meat dishes and the other you cook the milk dishes. On the one hand, you might think that's overkill. And you might think of the Phariseeism that Jesus condemned in the New Testament. On the other hand, and having had Jewish friends and still do, and seeing the seriousness, they attach to the law of God. I do take my hat off to them to be as far away from crossing lines as possible, and to take God's word as seriously as Sinai itself. Well, just a few more things. From verse 20 to 33, the rest of this chapter, you see a promise about the promised land. In 20, he says, Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, trying to guide you up this mountain, stay within the confines of covenant, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Sounds a lot like following the prophet in our day. I will send a messenger, that's what angels were often referred as, and they will keep you in the way. They'll bring you all the way into the promised land. So follow. Again, in light of all these commandments I've been giving you, please stay on this straight and narrow path that has been lined out, marked out for you, by these commandments. In 21, beware of him. And that doesn't mean be scared of this angel, but be aware of the important role he is playing in your life, and obey his voice. Provoke him not. So maybe there's even that level of beware. Don't get him angry, okay? For he will not pardon your transgressions. For my name is in him. This angel is the personification of justice. So stay straight, stay true. There will be personifications of mercy as well, but you need to come to know the justice first. In 22, if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, remember it's me speaking, not just the angel, not just the prophet, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies. That's a good thing for you. An adversary unto thine adversaries. I'll be on your side because you've proven that you're on mine. In 23, for mine angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. I will cut them off. There's a go before you and be your rearward, as we saw escaping Egypt. On your right hand and left, mine angels round about you, bearing you up. I want to be with you on this journey. These commandments are the way you can stay with me. These are the conditions of our covenant. In verse 24, thou shall not bow down to their gods, all those aides we just met, nor serve them, nor do after their works. But thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. That does sound like an all or nothing. Utterly overthrow, quite break down. No gods before me. That was the first one he listed. It was the one he came back to when he brought it full circle. I'm jealous for your sake. So please stay true to me. In 25, ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread and thy water. I will take sicknesses away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in thy land. The number of thy days I will fulfill. Can you imagine that kind of preservation and protection? Your bread, all will be well. Your water, all good. Nothing casting their young. Sounds like Jacob and the flocks and herds of Laban and just miraculously multiplying. I will bless you if you'll be mine, my peculiar treasure. Verse 27, I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come. And I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee, and I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, the Hittite from before the. Hornets? Well, we already used lice and flies and locusts, but that was just to soften or better said, break the hearts of the Egyptians in hopes they would let you go free. Now that then you are on the defense, now you're going on the offense, and we will see in later chapters the conquest of Canaan. And so what am I sending before you? Hornets? That's a scary thought, and that's kind of what's intended. I will send my fear before you, so that your enemy will leave and allow you to possess the land promised to your ancestors. In 29, I will not drive them out from before the in one year. That's an interesting thing for them to realize. This is not going to be a quick fix. Hornets notwithstanding. Lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field multiply against thee. So what's he going to do instead? By little and little, I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. You see, if I just destroy everybody, drive them out, then there's nothing left of the land and the beast will proliferate to the point that you'll never be able to conquer the land from them. So this is going to be a line upon line, precept upon precept, little by little approach. But you'll get there. You remember Jacob 5, when you have all these good and bad branches on these olive trees, and he says, well, let's clear out the bad as the good shall grow. That's great advice. And to see the same thing happening with the conquest of Canaan, just good, slowly displacing evil. In fact, best case scenario, good converting evil to join them in their righteousness. After all, I've only chosen you to go out and choose everybody else. There's best case. Verse 31, then, I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shalt drive them out before thee. There's the geography of the promised land, from here to here, from there to there. It's all going to be yours, and how's it going to come about? Notice the two parties working together. I will deliver the inhabitants, and thou shalt drive them out. Part me, part you. Sound like a covenant relationship. It's what I'm after. Finally, then, 32, thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. I mean, how could you? You're making covenant with me. And thou shalt not commit adultery. No unfaithfulness here. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me. For if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. And which of you will be trapped? You see, as this mixed multitude will be in the land of promise, slowly the one displacing the other, who's going to have more power over the other? Will you influence them or will they influence you? So that's why you have to be careful. Don't make covenants. Let me set your bounds. Let me give you these commandments to keep you safe and out of their snares. I love the way he ends this chapter in terms of a snare because sadly, especially among our youth, so often they feel trapped by the commandments of God when that was not the intent. God's intent was to keep them out of the traps of the adversary. It's snares that he is concerned about. I actually had a student years ago, funny, funny kid, great personality, who once said to me, I always used to think that the commandments of God were restrictive, that I couldn't do anything and the Church wasn't letting me. And then I went to the zoo and I realized that I'm grateful for the bars. I just died laughing thinking, that's a brilliant analogy. At the zoo, I don't see anybody clueless enough to grab the bars of the cage and start shaking it, crying out, let me in, let me in. No, at the zoo, we're on the right side of the bars, and they are meant to keep us safe from the animals on the other side. The New Testament tells us that Satan goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, and the commandments of God are the bars that keep him on one side and allow me to feel free on the other. I pray that through the power of God, we can have the kind of experience we need to have the necessary paradigm shift about God's laws, that they are meant to keep us out of snares, not to entangle us, that they are evidence of a loving God who's figured out how life is best lived and told us all those secrets. To be crowned with commandments, not a few, that is my hope, so please, Lord, keep them coming. Even in these three skip-over chapters that we didn't skip over, I hope you did see the wisdom of God and the justice of God and the mercy of God. They are on full display through His law. We see more than His finger writing on the tablets. We catch a glimpse of His glorious Father's heart. To sum it all up, then can we go back to one phrase that I skipped over in 23, and another phrase that I didn't skip over from 22, but is worth repeating. 23–13, and in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect. It's a great word we don't use very much. Be careful, be on your guard, pay strict attention. That's all that the Hebrew suggests. It means to keep. That's the same verb that's used in terms of keep the commandments. Be circumspect. Just keep it. It's the same word for Adam and Eve, keeping the Garden of Eden. It's the same word for Cain, being his brother's keeper. It's the same word for cherubim and the flaming sword, keeping, guarding the way of the Tree of Life. And that's what we're supposed to do with the Commandments. We're supposed to keep them. We're supposed to guard them. Even the way the King James translators gave it to us, to be circumspect. Spect is the word for looking, like spectacles or spectacle or spectator. And circum is the word for around, like circumference or circumnavigate. So to be circumspect, look around and see all that God has done for you and realize that he knows the best possible way of living. Look around, be circumspect, and see the dangers that he's trying to help us navigate. As we're climbing Mount Sinai step-by-step, trying to avoid falling off cliffs on either side. The straight and narrow path, remember Jacob's ladder, the vertical, straight and narrow? Yeah, it hurts when you step aside. Therefore, the last verse worth repeating, 22–31, And ye shall be holy men unto me. That is what God is trying to develop within each of us, true holiness. And I testify that as we come unto him through his word, including his word, which is law, then the day will come that he can say of us what he just said there. Not thou shalt be alone, but ye shall be holy men and holy women unto me. That will be, this is cause and effect, that is natural result. And for a chosen people, for a peculiar treasure, then there's no better way to arrive at that goal than by keeping God's commandments. Only by that can we become a kingdom of priests and priestesses. It's that way, it's his way, that we will become an holy nation. Hello, Unshaken Saints, I'm Jared Halverson, and welcome back to class. Can I start today by stating the obvious, that I absolutely love scripture study, and having you come and join me for it is such a blessing, as I've been getting to know many of you around the world. Thank you for focusing your attention and giving so much time to the Word of God. I pray that it's a blessing to you as it is to me. We're gonna have to make a shift, a pivot as of next week, and I just wanted to give you the heads up on that. As far as studying the entire Old Testament in a single year, I know we have our work cut out for us, and that's especially true in the Book of Genesis and the Book of Exodus. We spent like three months just in Genesis, and I think what, five and a half weeks or so is what the curriculum allots to the Book of Exodus. But because we're, I mean, this is a literal experience of robbing Peter to pay Paul, okay? We're robbing Samuel and Ezekiel in order to pay Moses here in the Books of Moses. But to spend so much time in Genesis and Exodus, which they deserve, don't get me wrong. Genesis is the Book of Books in the Old Testament, and to establish the Covenant in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the House of Israel, it's going to carry us through the rest of this history. That was worth the time that we spent. Same with the Book of Exodus. This is the Old Testament endowment in a manner of speaking. The creation, fall, atonement story spelled out in Israelite history just as it's being worked out in our own, in our own history, in our own lives. But because we're spending so much time there, we really have to pick up speed throughout the rest of the year, basically. We will slow down once we get to Isaiah. And if anyone deserves a slow down, it's going to be Isaiah. We have five weeks with him and I wish we had more. Now, but I'm looking forward to that. But in order to offer those books that much time, starting next week, we're flying. One day on Leviticus, one day on Numbers, one day on Deuteronomy, one day on Judges. We're going to have to fly, okay? And today that kind of starts picking up speed. We're supposed to be studying simply Exodus 24 and then skip ahead and do 31 through 34 about the Golden Calf. And then next week, we'll finish Exodus about the building of the Tabernacle. And then we only get three chapters in Leviticus. And really, only three out of 27? That's tragic. You know me by now, and so we're going to try to tackle the whole thing next week. At least some highlights in each chapter and really drill down deep in some of the more significant ones. I mean, because if you don't want to spend a ton of time in Leviticus, well, then you're totally normal. But I do want to spend some time there as far as understanding symbolism, since that is a make-it-or-break-it skill set when you study scripture, when you go to the temple, when you live life. We live in a world of symbolism. So I want to talk about that next week as we dig in. But that also means I want to front load what we're doing on this week as far as the tabernacle is concerned. Let me explain this real quick and then we'll dive in. The chapters that the curriculum skips for this week, 25 through 30, have a lot to do with the tabernacle construction as far as the design is concerned. Then next week, the last five chapters or so of Exodus is the actual construction itself. In some ways, this week is the spiritual construction of the tabernacle and all of its furnishings and implements, and next week is the physical construction. The Church decided to skip the spiritual and focus on the physical, which makes total sense. But because I want to give Leviticus more of its due, I'm actually going to really briefly highlight the physical construction next week, so we can focus on other things, which means I want to give the tabernacle its due today on the spiritual construction side of things, the design. So we're going to do everything we can to squeeze in Exodus 24–34 today, which is 20 pages of the actual text. We won't read every verse, but we're going to get close. So buckle up, space this out throughout your week, and I pray that this conversation will be a blessing to you, because tabernacles are dotting the earth again, or at least in our case, temples, which is what the tabernacle was pointing towards and preparing people for. And so I hope that today's lesson will be a blessing to you in terms of preparing yourself to enter the house of God, whether for the first time or the thousandth. And we need to be prepared each and every time. So pick it up where we left off last week. Exodus 23 ended with the law. And Moses had come down the mountain to present the Ten Commandments, and then all of these other commandments that we studied in 21, 22, and 23. And so the law has been given, which now begs the question, so what are you going to do about it? It reminds me at the end of some general conferences, President Hinckley, when he conducted, would say, well, it's all over now, except for the work. And so in some ways, similarly, now by the time you're done with 23, you have the bulk of the law, and it's all over now. But the work that they're called upon to do, will they do it? That's the question. It reminds me of the United States Constitution being written, this masterpiece of law. And then, well, what's going to happen with it? Will the states actually ratify it and decide, yes, we will bind ourselves to that Constitution and let it govern our nation or the United States anyway, from ever since, from that point forward. And to see the same thing happening here in Exodus 24, you have the law, will you ratify it? What are you going to do about it? So let's pick up where we left off in Chapter 24, verse 1. He, God, says unto Moses, come up unto the Lord. We saw that last week, up and down and up and down and up and down. He's getting his Stairmaster workout. But come back up, but not alone. Thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. Here we're starting to see the first hints of the seventy that we see in modern, in the modern church. And worship ye afar off, and Moses alone shall come near the Lord. But they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him. Now we're already starting to see some differentiation. I want Moses up close and personal. He needs to come nigh. But the people, I want them still down in the valley below. But Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, the 70 elders of Israel, I want them to come, but not quite as far as Moses. Come further than the people, but still stay afar off as you worship me. Now if you were to diagram this, you're going to see the people at the base of Sinai. You're going to see Moses at the top of Sinai, and you're gonna see these 70 elders and the other, those that are closest to Moses, somewhere in between, kind of mid-mountain, you could say. And since we like grouping things into threes, that's a pretty good way to picture in our mind telestial, terrestrial, celestial. And that the general group, the general body of the people, trying to pull them out of Egypt and pull the Egypt out of them, we're gonna start in kind of this telestial sphere, but Moses is inviting them, well, God is inviting them to begin ascending Sinai. Climb the mountain, become celestial yourself. We have some people that are making progress in that. And so picture these 70 elders of Israel ascending to terrestrial space, and then Moses making it all the way up to that celestial glory, where he would commune with God. We're actually gonna see a similar layout today as we watch the tabernacle take shape, because there's an outward, or an outer courtyard, picture that being telestial. Then you go actually into this tent of testimony, and there are two rooms. There's a first room called the Holy Place. So picture that terrestrial, and then you pass a veil and go into the holiest place, usually known as the Holy of Holies. And there's celestial space. So mountain base, mountain middle, mountain summit, courtyard, holy place, Holy of Holies, Israel, Aaron, Nadab, Abbehu, 70 elders of Israel, and then Moses. This is all telestial, terrestrial, and celestial. And just how high will we climb? The Lord is inviting us all the way up, but it's line upon line as we go. In verse 3, Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. Interesting those two go together. Here's the commandment, both his word, and here's the judgments, the results, the consequences of obeying or disobeying. And in response, all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord hath said will we do. Do you see all the alls in that verse? All the words and all the judgments, and all the people agree to do all that God has asked. This is a oneness that's beginning to form in Israel. We'll see it break down later today, and that's something that the Zion is always aiming for, right? In fact, Zion is the destination. One heart, one mind, dwelling in righteousness with no poor among them. It's what Moses is trying to develop here, the kingdom of God. And are you all in? There was a statement from Neal A. Maxwell once where he said, you know, too often we push against conformity, and just want to be doing our own thing. But I doubt there was much concern about conformity the day that the Israelites crossed through the Red Sea on dry ground. Now, there was a straight and narrow path that nobody had any problem navigating. No, I will not veer to the left or the right since there are walls of water on either side. Now, we are all in, we are all one in this. And of course, there is room for diversity, but it must be within that unity of the kingdom of God. We'll see more of that later as they conquer the promised land. In verse 4, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and builded an altar under the hill and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. So here you see Moses taking what God said, an oral law, and committing it to writing, a written law, something you can study and pour over and use to judge the people. He rises up early in the morning, so you sense this in terms of priority. It's like gathering manna. Make sure this is the first thing that you do. And he builds an altar and sets up pillars. Remember, altars are something that we associate with Abraham. Make sure there was one everywhere he went. And pillars are something we associate with Jacob, that he set those up as places to kind of sink a stake down into the ground, to mark a memory and to demarcate. This is a time that God has covenanted or renewed his covenant with each of us. Now there's 12 pillars, one for each tribe of Israel. In verse 5, he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. So far, we've been seeing more of the elders of Israel, and they're helping Moses lead, right? Captains of tens and fifties and hundreds and so on. But here the young men are being called upon to offer sacrifice, to involve the rising generation in our sacrifices, to help them understand why we serve the way that we serve. It really is incredible to watch missionaries, especially at a younger and younger age, 18 and 19-year-olds, heading out to offer themselves as a sacrifice to the Lord, and invite all other people to start ascending Mount Sinai with them. The future is bright when it's young men and women making those kinds of sacrifices. In verse 6, Moses took half the blood of those sacrifices and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. He took the Book of the Covenant, what he'd written, and read in the audience of the people. They said, all that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient. So he hears it, receives it, he writes it, he reads it, he makes sure that his people can understand these things. And so he's conveying it to them, he's teaching. In a way he's trying to make sure, do you understand what you're committing yourself to? Let me read it all. I've heard the old joke that the Bible for most people is like those agreements online where we just scroll to the end as quickly as we can and we just click the button saying that yes, I've read it and I agree with it. Well, I don't know how true that is, that of reading and agreeing, but that's what Moses is trying to do. No, sit down. I actually want to explain all of this to make sure that you know what you're committing yourself to. I had that, my wife and I felt that with our own children as they were preparing for baptism and just felt, I want them to know what it is that they are deciding to do. Making a covenant with Christ, do they know him? Committing to spend a life building the kingdom of God, do they know what that entails? And so usually, well, when they were five or six, I would take each one and we had been doing family scripture study, but I just wanted them to know the Book of Mormon better and have an experience with it on their own. And so I would start one-on-one reading it with each child. And it took years to get through. And when I remember when they first started, they barely knew how to read much themselves, but I pointed words and they'd be able to focus on that. As they got a little older, they'd read the shortest verses. And then they'd graduate to the medium-sized verses. And by the end, we were switching back and forth, or reading pages at a time. And it was a sweet experience as a father to spend that much one-on-one time in the scriptures with my children. And five for five, all of them finished the Book of Mormon before they got baptized. My youngest, we finished on her eighth birthday, so we were cutting it close. But it was a powerful experience for each one to know what the gospel was, at least as far as the Book of Mormon was concerned. To say, yes, I've read the Book of Mormon, and I do desire to take upon myself the name of Christ with full purpose of heart, as much as any eight-year-old can, right? I love that Moses is doing that with them. Read this. Do you understand what you're agreeing to? And they did. Now in verse eight, we see Moses continuing to do something with the blood. In six, he sprinkled the altar. In eight, he takes the blood and sprinkled it on the people. Now that sounds really strange, but notice what he says. Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. Blood on the people, blood on the altar, blood of sacrifice. Do you understand, my fellow Israelites, that covenant keeping is a life and death experience? At least it was for the Lamb of God who will someday be slain for the sins of the world, for our broken covenant. And so to get some of that blood upon yourself, to realize that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, that Jesus trod the winepress alone and stained all of his raiment with our blood. There's the irony. We see it in D&C 133. We'll see it later near the end of the Old Testament this year in the Minor Prophets. But to see that our blood stains Christ's raiment, whereas his blood washes our raiment white. There's an interesting irony there. A substitutionary atonement. I'll take your place, you take mine. That's what sacrifice was in the Old Testament. Also sprinkling the altar. This place of sacrifice, sanctified by the sacrifices that are performed upon it. Now, none of our sacrifices are truly up to specs. Can we say it that way? Nothing that we do does justice to what Christ did for us. The best lessons we teach, the most selfless service we give, still needs to be sanctified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to make it worth accepting on the part of God. And so yes, sprinkle the people, but sprinkle the altar as well. We'll see a lot of that blood symbolism throughout, especially next week when we study Leviticus. In verse 9. Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel, he laid not his hand. Also they saw God and did eat and drink. This is a heavenly epiphany that they are having there, in the Mid Mountain, to understand what's happening. First of all, the fact that they all saw the God of Israel, according to that verse, that Moses was not alone in this experience, reminds me of Joseph Smith, that other than the first vision, for example, almost every heavenly manifestation that he experienced was shared by other people. And so you have a Sidney Rigdon participating in these visions of the degrees of glory that Joseph Smith had. You have an Oliver Cowdery there in the Kirtland Temple with the vision of the manifestation of Elijah, and Elias, and Moses, and Jesus Christ himself. Now, by the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established? Well, you have 70 plus that are testifying to the reality of the God of Israel. Now notice, this is kind of a, you'll see this several times, Doctrine and Covenants as well as in the New Testament, whether in the body or out of the body, I could not tell. It's like, what is happening here? This is so far beyond the ordinary. Or when you see an Elihi and an Alma the Younger talking about their visions of the Lord and saying, well, me thought I saw, or I thought, and again, this is such out of the norm. Is it out of body? Is this, am I really seeing this? What's happening here? Those who want to attack Joseph Smith for multiple accounts of the first vision, I'm thinking, cut them some slack until you've had a vision of your own. And I haven't. But it just seems like such an out of the ordinary experience. It'd be hard to put in the words at all. That's why I love the phrase, as it were a paved work of sapphire. They saw him as it were the body of heaven in its clearness. What am I seeing here? Now, there's that side of it. But on the other side, it says, they did eat and drink. It's almost like, pinch me. Is this real? Let me eat something, because what I really tasted in a dream, if I'm out of the body, can I eat? I want to know, is this really happening to me? There's a me thinks kind of side of the experience, but also a very physical, tangible, I'm eating and this is real. And the realest thing of all is God. When it speaks of his feet on this paved work, when it speaks of his hand, he didn't lay it upon them. The technical term is anthropomorphism. Anthro is man, morph is shape. And so to have an anthropomorphic God, a God in human shape. Now, that shouldn't sound crazy. Genesis 1, we were created in the image of God. And so of course God would be in our image. We're in his. An anthropomorphic God? No, we're... Is this even a word? D-amorphic men and women. That we are created after his image. And we'll see more of this as we go through today's material. That God does have feet and hands. Most importantly, he has a mouth with which to speak and a heart with which to feel. A God without body parts or passions may be what's described in the creeds and the confessions. It's not what appears in the Bible. And I am grateful for a God of body and parts, and especially of passions towards us. Passions of love. We'll see all of those today too. In verse 12, the Lord says to Moses, come up to me into the mount and be there. And I will give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach them. And as a teacher, it sure helps to have some written notes. It helps to have some things written down that you can share with your students so that they can pour over those same things themselves. But I do love how he starts it. Come up and be there. I worry it seems just redundant. Of course I'm there. Of course I'm going to be there. Really? Are we always there spiritually? Are we there mentally and emotionally? Or are we content sometimes just being there physically? Yeah, I came up. I came up to church. I came up to the temple. I came up to be with God. Well, if you did, then be there. Be mindful in the experience. Recognize where you are and what you're doing and put in the effort to get something out of this experience. Again, I just love the way it's said. Be truly present with the Lord. Be attentive, be alert, be focused, turn aside to see. Put your heart and soul in this and you'll be amazed at how much you get out of it. We'll see this later when we meet the boy Samuel. When God is trying to speak to him, he keeps saying, here am I. It's a great thing to say, I'm right here. Go ahead and speak and he doesn't get the message. It's not until he responds to that call with this phrase, speak for thy servant heareth. Now my ears are fully engaged. You can speak to me. Now there's only works in English. What's it called? A homophone, I think. Two words that mean different things but have the same sound. Well, here am I compared to speak for a servant heareth. And I guess what I'm trying to say is it's not enough to be here, H-E-R-E. You have to be willing to hear, H-E-A-R. So the next time you go up to be with God, make sure that you are there. Just be there and the Lord will be there with you. In verse 13, Moses rose up and his minister Joshua, notice, not his general, not his captain, even though that's how we met him first, back in chapter 17. His minister Joshua came with him. And Moses went up into the mount of God, and he said unto the elders, Terry ye here for us, until we come again unto you. And behold, Aaron and her are with you. If any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. Good thing he'd learned how to delegate from his father-in-law Jethro, right? Good thing that Aaron and her have had some experience helping to lead, helping to sustain the prophet, someone up in view among the people down below that they are coming to trust. It is interesting how much of leadership is not doing. It's being present, as we just saw. It's thinking, it's pondering, it's planning, it's creativity. And yes, that's an intense amount of work, but it's not always the visible, hands-on, out-with-the-people kind of experience. And sadly, some leaders, and this is true in business or in education, it's definitely true in terms of church, especially on the local level. So busy doing, doing, doing, that we don't have time to create, to think, to ponder, to be present. And so to me, it's again, very important what Moses had learned from Jethro and what he's doing already. You guys stay here. I'm going to go and be with God. I need to learn some things. So I have something to teach. I need to receive some things. So I have something to give. And anybody that needs anything, they're not missing any authority here. They can get what they need from Erin and her. And that's true of counselors. So I hope we're willing to go to them. And I hope that also we're willing to tarry if we're the one asked to stay behind or to do some other work that our leader delegates to us. I love hearing from Sister Nelson as she describes the revelation that seems to be coming like an unbroken stream, a flood, better said, to her husband, President Russell M. Nelson, and times where she tarries behind, times she leaves the room because it seems like there's a vertical conversation going on that isn't intended directly for her. And so her willingness to tarry. In verse 15, Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. Picture the mountain being veiled. And so here's this veil that you pass through to be in God's presence. Think of that in terms of terrestrial to celestial. We'll see more veils by the end of today's discussion. With that cloud, that veil, the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai. And the cloud covered it six days, and the seventh day, he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Six days? What was happening during that time? I am curious, what was Moses doing? Waiting? Being patient? Being there? Or perhaps it took that much time to get him to a point where he really truly was there, and then God could speak. There is obvious Sabbath symbolism there, which I love. But to think of this six days of preparation on Moses' part, so that he could then, on that Sabbath, that seventh day, enter God's presence and receive all that he needed to receive. I remember years ago teaching with an amazing faculty, incredible, incredible people so focused on blessing the rising generation. And one brother who was doing that against some physical challenges of his own, and just muscling through it. And he prayed for deliverance from this physical affliction. He'd received priesthood blessings and so on. But like the woman with the issue of blood, nothing better as a result. And then obviously, inspired by the Holy Ghost and recognizing someone else's spiritual gift, he asked another colleague, specifically him, for a priesthood blessing of healing. That was one of the spiritual gifts, I'm sure, of this good brother whose sense has passed on. But a man of incredible, incredible faith. And when the faith to heal meets the faith to be healed, miracles happen. And it wasn't, oh, you need a blessing? Sure, sit down. And what's your full name again? No, it was, that's the miracle you seek. Please give me some time to prepare myself. And as this, this elder brother, this older faculty member full of faith, paid whatever price he needed to, to prepare. His verse reminds me of it. Six days, Moses is on the mountain, past the veil, there amid the cloud. But God hasn't spoken yet. Do you get impatient? Or does he realize God is giving me time to, to put myself in the right spiritual state? And when this older colleague was ready, finally, to bless this younger colleague, the miracle took place. And he was healed. Something that we collectively rejoiced in. But to see that kind of preparation was something that, that gave me pause, literally. And, and taught me the importance of pausing and preparing before we just rush in to some kind of spiritual experience. That we might not be fully present to receive without that preparation. In verse 17, the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and got him up into the mount. And Moses was in the mount 40 days and 40 nights. Now that phrase should ring some bells. Back in the story of Noah and the flood, it was 40 days and 40 nights of rain to cleanse the earth. Ah, cleansed with water and now cleansed with fire. Forty is a great symbolic number that has come to mean purification. How did Jesus prepare himself and purify himself? He had nothing to be purified from, sinless. But in terms of getting in that place spiritually to begin his mortal ministry, well, a 40-day fast in the wilderness. In fact, this is Moses' equivalent of that experience. Elijah will have the same thing. And so to think of baptism of water and baptism of fire, baptism in the Holy Ghost, to think of being prepared and purified by those agents, and to think, we'll see it in a couple of weeks in the Book of Numbers. Wandering in the wilderness for how long? 40 years to purify that generation and prepare the next to enter the Promised Land. And what are they preparing themselves for in each instance? To perform the Lord's work. That's what Jesus fasted for in those 40 days. That's what Elijah, that's what Moses here, that's the wandering throughout the wilderness before they enter the Promised Land. Because as you turn the page from Exodus 24 to 25, are you ready? Are you prepared now to build a house where God can dwell with you? And here's this spiritual creation, the design for the Tabernacle. Exodus 25 verse one, The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly. With his heart he shall take my offering. Now, notice the words there. It's an offering. It's not a debt. We're bringing it, not sending it. This is much more personal and intimate and relational. This is done willingly. So not under duress. It's not begrudgingly. And it's done with the heart. So not insincerely, not distractedly. Full focus, all attention, be present. I am making this offering to God. It's with my heart because that's really what it is that I'm supposed to be offering. This becomes clear in the Book of Mormon, right? When the Lord says, okay, law of Moses has been fulfilled. And so everything, every sacrifice people have been giving up to this point has now found its rightful destination in my sacrifice, which was whole-souled, wholehearted. And so what am I asking from you now? No longer animal sacrifice, but the sacrifice of the animal within you, as Elder Maxwell used to say, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And so what are they asked to do with their more temporal sacrifices? Well, infuse them with spirit by infusing them with heart and soul. In verse 3, this is the offering which he shall take of them. Gold and silver and brass and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen and rote's hair and ram's skin dyed red and badger's skin and chateen wood. Now, we're going to see all kinds of lists here, and we do need symbolic eyes to see. What is it that Lord is trying to convey in this interesting architecture? Now, I remember hitting me once. I think too often I read my scriptures in black and white. Even though I use all kinds of colored pens and pencils to mark things and each color means something different to me. Maybe the same is true of God. But if you looked at verse 3 through 5 in living color, what do you see? It mentioned red. The ram skin was dyed red. And scarlet is there, too. Orange isn't specifically mentioned, but brass is about as close to that as you can get. Yellow doesn't list that specifically either, but gold is a close approximation. So now we have red, orange, yellow. Green, well, it's not in the list anywhere. And yet, if this is a tent of testimony in the wilderness that we're going to build, then green, I think, again, it's the desert, so it's going to be some browns and tans and yellows as well. But any type of vegetation, especially if you think of this as the New Eden with the tree of life that we are trying to approach, then there's the green inherent in all of this. And then what else? Blue, specifically mentioned, and purple, this royal color, specifically mentioned as well. And so putting it in that order, what have I just described? If you're to back up and look at the Tabernacle, the way it's being set up or planned out, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, well, there you have a rainbow reminder of the covenants of God, that I will preserve my people in this arc of the Covenant, that Zion will be caught up to heaven and returned someday to earth, that this is this colorful conduit between heaven and earth. Jacob's Ladder, whatever you want to call this, the Tabernacle is the place where we are reminded of our covenants. And as God looks at the token of the rainbow and promises us peace and reassures us of hope, and time ahead yet to change and prepare and flood the earth with righteousness to overcome the flood of sin that will bring about a flood of consequence. That just struck me once when I was studying this and started envisioning the colors of this, the colors of the rainbow. In verse six, it's not just those items, it's oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense. Notice there will be sights in the temple and smells in the temple or in the tabernacle, that is. So a feast for every sense. Add to that onyx stones and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. That's all ceremonial clothing for the high priest that will come to understand in Chapter 28. Then verse eight, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Interesting he'd use that word, a sanctuary. Sometimes hear stories of someone on the run for some accidental thing that they've done and they run into a cathedral or a church somewhere and cry sanctuary. If you played tag when you were a kid, the equivalent was home base. And I remember playing tag when I was little. We played it all the time. And there was just, there was thrill being out there being chased down by your classmates. But there was such a feeling of security when you were on home base. Kind of the neener, neener, you can't get me. I'm safe here. And so for the Lord to create a sanctuary from the cares of the world. I've heard it said that temples are built with thick walls to keep the world out. And I'm grateful for that home base that I pray we go often enough to, so that it begins to feel like home. Notice also, it's the house of God. It's his home. It's his home base. It's his sanctuary. So it's not just a place where we can escape this wicked world, but it's a place where he can come into this wicked world and still be secure within this sanctified sanctuary. It's a home base for him. In verse 9, according to all that I show thee, the Lord says to Moses, after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so, shall you make it. The pattern of the tabernacle, the pattern of all the things that go into it. Do you remember when we studied section 94 last year in the Doctrine and Covenants, and I confessed that in spite of the fact that I absolutely love religion, obviously, and love history and love architecture, and I wanted to be an architect before I got into church education, that section 94 is about historical religious architecture, which you'd think is like the trifecta, exactly what I'm looking for. Yet the first time I taught it, I was bored to tears because I just thought, is there any application to a bunch of teenagers that don't care about historical religious architecture like I do? And I found it once I stumbled across the word pattern, as it appeared over and over and over in section 94, where God gave them a pattern to lay out and have a foundation for these houses of God, to a pattern on how to build it, and then a pattern on how to dedicate it to God. And I just remember in class talking with my teenage students, not about historical religious architecture, but about very personal growing up in God, and what they planned to become and make of themselves, and what patterns had God given them to lay out the foundation, and to build, and to dedicate their lives to God. Here are the same things happening. Let me, I'm going to show you this in the mountain. It's actually what makes this so long, because it's not a picture, it's text. And if you ever had to turn a blueprint or a floor plan into paragraphs, yeah, it's going to be a lot thicker blueprint than what the architect gave you. Better to see than just to say. And so he tells him, he tells Moses, I'm going to show you this, and then do everything according to the pattern that you see. Another word for pattern is template. And template is where we get the word temple. Hugh Nible used to say, the temple is the scale model of the universe. It is the pattern that we can base our lives upon and build well, give it to God. Now, from verse 10 to 22, we're going to start with the Ark of the Covenant. Now, we don't even know where to put it yet. That's okay. I'll get there. But I want you to start with the end in mind. And the most important furnishing in the entire Tabernacle is the Ark of the Covenant. So let's learn how to build that one first. In verse 10, Thou shalt make an Ark of Chateam Wood. He describes it two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, a cubit and a half high, which means the height and the width form a perfect square. Keep your eye out for shapes as we're designing these things. And just like a circle is perfect in terms of it being round, every point on it is equidistant from the center. A square also is a beautiful symbol of perfection. Sometimes you'll see even in temple architecture, signs or symbols of circles and squares. Circles and squares that would require a square to be able to make, so that it's all 90-degree angles, a compass that would be required to draw that perfect circle. Well, from the side, looking at the Ark of the Covenant, you would see a perfect square. Now, it's made of chateen wood. This is one where I felt like I needed to turn aside to see. What is chateen wood? Looking it up, oh, that's acacia. Okay, that doesn't help me. So next step, well, what's acacia wood? Could there be any symbolism behind the specific material God calls them to use in construction? Now, it's possible to look beyond the mark, okay? We see that problem in scripture. And so if you're drilling down, I guess I just want to caution all of us, myself included, to think, yes, but not to overthink. And if you find yourself going down wormholes that just confuse you more than illuminate things, then probably best to come back up for air, or at least the periscope depth, and try to make sense of what exactly is going on here. We don't want to push in symbolism where none was intended. But then again, how do we know no symbolism was intended? So often, again, when you feel a burning bush, suggesting it's worth turning aside to see, at least explore and see if you find anything. In this case, Acacia wood, I looked it up. And Acacia wood is incredibly strong and durable, like our covenant should be. According to the website I saw, it's 55% harder than oak, which was always associated in my mind as a very hard wood. It's still 23% harder than hickory. And my time in Nashville taught me about old hickory, General Jackson, that was so unbending, so firm, that they named him after that wood. Well, I guess if he were firmer, they would have called him old acacia instead of old hickory. Shatim. And so to think of this box in which is going to be placed the covenant, the tables of stone, oh, that's pretty hard too. That's pretty durable. And so think about the commandments of God and our covenants to keep them. Are we set in stone? Are we as firm and unbending as Shatim would be? I've read more. It's resistant to damage. Think about how these things relate to our covenants with Christ. It's resistant to rot from humidity or fungi or insects. It's flexible when it's first cut. You're malleable. You can be shaped by the master's hand. But then it becomes incredibly, incredibly hard. And it retains its shape once it's been given that shape. There are very distinct grain patterns. So this would be a beautiful wood. And to think of the glory and beauty, those two words will come up a few times today. God sees in every single one of us uniquely, individually, all the grain of God as we are trying to become like him. I love, we'll talk, again, maybe that actually would, that was probably the best time to do it. That's one of my favorite things about temple architecture, is its symbolism. My father's uncle was the architect who designed the San Diego Temple. And when it was first dedicated, or the open house, I should say, I got to go down with my family to San Diego. And Uncle Bill was our tour guide. And that was mind-blowing to be able to go on the tour through the open house with the man who designed the temple. And he, knowing that at the time that I wanted to be an architect, he kind of took me under his wing and it just was showing me things. And saying, as you walk through this building, pay attention. Look at the light and how much there is and where it comes from. Pay attention to numbers. Count the windows as you go through. And in different rooms, see how many they add up to. He said, pay attention to the color, that color palette and how it changes the further into the temple you get. I felt like I was going on a treasure hunt, more than a scavenger hunt, a treasure hunt of sermons in stone and in symbol. And wow, the architect is infusing lessons throughout this building. And here, God is the architect. So, have the eyes to see and try to understand what the Lord might be suggesting here. Verse 11, Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. Now, gold is a great symbol of value, of great worth. How does God feel about his holy house and those that he invites to enter? Gold is rare. That's why it's so valuable. Gold is pure. It doesn't rust. Gold, even when it's a crown around it, oh, can we be a little more obvious? This is a royal priesthood. We saw that back in Chapter 19, that God is trying to create out of his people, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests and priestesses, kings and queens. Here's this crown of gold on the Ark of the Covenant. And that chateam wood, as strong and durable and beautiful as it is, ends up being coated on both sides, inside and outside, with that precious gold. Now, it's one thing to do it on the outside, where people will see it, but to cover it on the inside with gold as well. Remember the Ark of Noah was pitched within and without with pitch. So it kept the water out, but it was on both sides, double-layer protection. Well, to think of this Ark, same word, pitched in a way. Remember, pitch in the Noah account was kafar, to cover, and kafar, cover, is the atonement verb in Hebrew. And so to have the Ark covered inside and out with this covering of the atonement keeps the water out of our lives, the sin, right? It will make us sink. And here again, to cover the Ark of the Covenant inside and outside with precious gold. Well, the blood of the lamb is far more precious than any gold ever could be. But this is a good symbol to point towards it. Inside, outside. And again, I love the fact that they coat the inside as well. The part that no one will ever see. Are we only trying to appear to be righteous? Are we white at supple curves, as Jesus said? Or is the gold on the inside also, when no one sees but God? I can't remember which apostle mentioned that as they were walking through the Salt Lake Temple once and seeing a door knob in some interior door that's off the beaten path and nobody ever gets to look at. And yet it was carved with such craftsmanship, some pioneer metal worker that knew that God would see his handiwork and wanted to make it the best he possibly could. The same thing's happening here. Verse 12 then describes four rings that are placed in the four corners of the Ark of the Covenant and then these long staves of chateen wood that are also covered over with gold that you place through those rings. So one stave, a rod on each end and that way you can pick it up and you can move the Ark of the Covenant whenever necessary. But notice this detail. The staves shall be in the rings of the Ark. They shall not be taken from it. Now you'd think that once they set up the Tabernacle, you'd put the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies and then take the staves out of the rings and store them somewhere. This is its final resting place, right? Well, not right, because this Tabernacle will go wherever God wants his people to go. Remember, it's Abraham, setting up altars everywhere he went. Same thing here. This is a portable house of God, and the Covenant itself must be portable as well. Take it everywhere you go. There should never be a place that you enter where you feel like you needed to leave the Ark of the Covenant behind. And the fact that it's always ready to be picked up and moved, and the drop of a hat at a moment's notice, sound like Passover? Eat it in a three-point stance, basically, like we talked about a few weeks ago. Well, we're ready to follow God at the drop of a hat. You say to go, and we're ready to pick it up and run. In verse 16, And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. I love that. This is why we call it the Ark of the Covenant. We're putting the Covenant in the ark. So you could call it the Ark of the Testimony. Same thing. The fact that God would even use those terms interchangeably. This is my testimony. This is my covenant. I promise. I testify. I witness to you that I will keep my part. Please keep yours. But that testimony, those tablets of stone, we'll see later today, are going to be placed within this ark. Now, we saw it already with Noah. We saw it again a few weeks ago with Moses, that arcs are meant for preservation. So what are we doing to preserve our testimony? What are we doing to keep our covenants safe within wood that's as strong as you can imagine? In a way, this is shelf one in our analogy of the three shelves. This is Revelation past and present. You could call it shelf two as well. And how well am I preserving and protecting it? There better be a good arc to store our testimonies and covenants. In verse 17, thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. Now, we talked about this when we had our Easter message. To come boldly to the throne of grace. And the throne of grace is the mercy seat. No, no, I will come and adore at the mercy seat. The mercy seat is the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. It's what covers the covenant, kaffir, atone. Okay? And it's Christ's mercy that does all of that, the mercy seat. Are we coming? I love the fact also that it says, oh, it's supposed to be two and a half cubits long, cubit and a half wide. Well, why does that matter? Because those are the exact dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant itself. In other words, the lid is made to match. It's made to measure exact dimensions, which to me suggests that the grace of God, which covers our broken covenants. It's just right. It's made to exact specifications, with nothing hanging over the edge, and nothing, and it's not too short that it falls inside. You ever had a lid that just doesn't match what it is that it's trying to cover or close? That's frustrating, and it's interesting. This especially happens whenever I'm doing interfaith dialogue with my evangelical Christian friends, because it always comes down to a question of grace and works and where we are on that contrary that we have to prove. And I think what's interesting is sometimes Latter-day Saints accuse evangelical Christians of making the lid too big, and sometimes evangelical Christians accuse Latter-day Saints Christians of making the lid too small. We'll sometimes say to them, oh, this is just cheap grace, and just put it on Jesus' tab, and the lid covers so far beyond anything, whereas they'll look at us and say, but yeah, you think you have to work your way to heaven, and you're like paying God back, or this guilt trip that you're on, and just trying to buy your way into his good graces. You guys have the smallest lid, you don't think it covers, and so you're trying to, I don't know, fill in the cracks, the gaps with your own goodness, and that will never do it. Oh, on the one hand, I think both communities are wrong to accuse the other, when I think both communities are so much closer to each other than either party tends to admit. Because honestly, we're both looking desperately for the covering of Christ. We need a mercy seat to come unto. But I do testify that it's made to exact specifications. And it'll never be too much or too little to cover your sins. Christ has the perfect balance of justice and mercy. He knows exactly, what's the old saying, measure twice, cut once. Well, he knows exactly where to cut the covenant. Now, the Lord's going to spend some extra time talking about this mercy seat. And good reason, okay? It's where we're coming. In verse 18, thou shalt make two cherubims of gold. Now, cherubims is a horrible translation because it's a double plural. I am is already the plural in Hebrew, and then S is the plural in English. And so cherubim, at least two cherubs, some kind of heavenly being. Well, just in case you're not sure which language to use, let's just make everything plural. There are two cherubs. Cherubim, cherubims, there they are. And they're made of gold. Keep going. Of beaten work, shalt thou make them. So we're hammering out this gold in order to fashion these statues of heavenly beings. In the two ends of the mercy seat, that's where you're going to put them, one on each end of the lid. Make one cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the mercy seat, shalt ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof. Of the mercy seat means it's going to be part and parcel of the lid. These heavenly beings, these heavenly messengers, you could call them, will be permanently attached to the mercy seat. You can't disassemble this thing. It's all of the same piece. It's all covered in gold together. It's as if they grow out of this mercy seat itself. And there's beautiful symbolism also. To think of God's messengers, God's servants being permanently attached to him, to his mercy, they are growing out of his grace. Do we see that when we look at prophets and apostles? Do we see these messengers beneath God, but part of his throne in a way? That's the symbolism of the Book of Revelation. Sit with them in their throne. It's amazing what he's describing here. In verse 20, the cherubim shall stretch forth with their wings on high, covering, there's that word, always think of atonement when you hear covering in the Old Testament. Covering the mercy seat with their wings and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And like I said, a picture is worth a thousand words. And since we don't have pictures in the Old Testament, we're getting our thousand words instead. But can you see what he's describing? Here's the lid upon this box with the staves through the rings, and on this lid growing out of it are these two heavenly beings. Picture the way the world envisions an angel, something along those lines. And their wings are spread out towards each other. One on this end, one on this end, they face each other, their wings are spread out to cover the covering. Now, wings, what does that remind you of? How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathered through chickens under her wings? But you would not. Here, will you? Will you come? Will you come to be covered? Because I have arms outstretched, ready to welcome you in. We'll see this when we get to the Book of Ruth, that we come to trust under the wings, the outstretched arms of the Lord. No wonder this is the Mercy Seat. You also see them facing one another as they are focused on the grace of God. Their look is inward. Now, there will be times, we'll see this later also, that there's a time to look outward and a time to look inward. When you go to the temple and go to the Baptistry, you see 12 oxen with the burden of baptism upon their backs. Which way do they face? Outward, 12 different directions, ready to cover the earth and bring the blessings of the Gospel to all of scattered Israel, bring them all back home. So there are times to look outward and who's lost and who can we find, and then times to look inward and focus on the grace of God that makes all of this other gathering even possible. In verse 21, Thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony which I shall give thee. So mercy, grace, atonement, above all else, covering the law, including the parts of it that we break. In verse 22, there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandments unto the children of Israel. There I will meet with thee, there I will commune with thee. Oh, come boldly to the throne of grace. Receive this mercy, receive this grace, and you will come to know God. You'll commune with him there. There's repentance, there's covenant making and covenant keeping. Now, like I said, we started with the most important part. We start with the covenant and its ark and its lid and the mercy seat and the presence of God that he's trying to help us come into. This is the mountaintop that Moses was able to attain. But how do we get there? Well, there's a lot of preparation, right? Six days of work to get to that final day of rest. And so what else is he going to describe? The next set of verses, 23 to 30, he'll start talking about the furnishings of the holy place. Remember, two rooms in the Tabernacle. Holy of Holies is a perfect cube, so perfect square in every direction. And that's where the ark of the covenant will be, only piece of furniture there. Back up, there will be a veil, we'll see later. And now you have this holy place, which is the same dimensions as the Holy of Holies, but twice as long, twice as deep. Okay, so perfect square. In some ways, the whole Tabernacle will look a lot like an enlarged version of the ark of the covenant. Okay, perfect square coming from the side, but just longer. And that's what we see here. In that holy place, there are three main pieces of furnishings. Okay, and the first one he's going to talk about is the table of showbread. We'll see it described in verse 23. Thou shalt also make a table of chateen wood, that same strong acacia. Two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. So we're not seeing a perfect square in this, but it is more roughly the dimensions of a normal table. Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, there's that element again, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. So we're still thinking royal priesthood here. It also has rings in the four corners and staves through those rings. So this is portable as well, just like the Ark of the Covenant. Verse 29, Thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof to cover with all. Of pure gold shalt thou make them. Sounds like we're setting the table, and that's exactly what they were doing. Thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me always. Now, showbread, that's an interesting word. Elsewhere, it's translated as the bread of the presence. And to think of showing, I want you to see me. When Jesus was taking that unleavened bread in His final Passover and breaking it and giving it to His apostles saying, take and eat this in remembrance of my body or some to shift from simile to metaphor. This is my body. This is my blood. And so here is a table to show the presence of God. The real presence is beyond the veil in the Holy of Holies, there at the Ark of the Covenant. But here what I am showing you through a preparatory preview. There's yet another translation of show bread that I absolutely love. Sometimes it's called the bread of faces. In showing, seeing face to face. And again, I think of that at the sacrament table. This is our table of show bread, the front of every chapel. This is where the body and blood of Christ are shown us. And it is bread of faces. It's bread of presence. I can come face to face with the best version of myself, which is Jesus, the person I'm trying to pattern my life after. And as I come to see him for who he really is in this sacrificial state, and as I come to see my own self and who I'm trying to become and how far I yet have to go, how a covenant relationship is forming there. It's deepening there. I'm starting to receive his image in my countenance with the help of this bread of faces. Now that's going to be on your right side. If you are a priest and you're entering the Holy Place, pass through this outer veil, come into the Holy Place. There's an inner veil that you'll pass. The high priest will pass only on the Day of Atonement. We'll study more of that next week. And we talked about it on Easter. Now, but in this room, the Holy Place, on the right hand side, that's where you will see the table of showbread. The right is our covenant hand, the right, the covenant side, making these covenants as I'm coming into Christ. Meanwhile, what's on the left side? The candlestick, and that's what's described next. Verse 31, Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold. There's that element again. Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made. His shaft, so there's a picture of trunk. His branches, oh, that makes it more obvious. So here we have a tree of life, a burning bush, you could say. Right there inside the holy place, illuminating everything from within, since no outer light will penetrate. His bowls, his knops, that's a crown-shaped circlet that goes around these branches or the shaft. And his flowers, so think of alive and fruitful, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it, three branches of the candlestick out of one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side. So together with that central vertical shaft, with its bowl on top to put olive oil to be able to burn, there will then be six branches off the sides making seven sources of light. And again, think creation and seven being total and perfect and whole. So this wholeness of light illuminating the tabernacle within. In verse 35, there shall be a knop. So that little circular crown, kings and queens, under two branches of the same. So where they come together, put a little crown. A knop under two branches of the same, do it again. A knop under two branches of the same, do it again. So the two, the four, the six, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Again, this would be so much easier with pictures. So yes, Moses, I will show you all this, but you'll have to go explain it to everybody else. Verse 36, their knops and their branches shall be of the same. All it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. So kind of like the cherubim is attached permanently, part and parcel, growing out of grace. The lid of the Ark of the Covenant, same thing here, that this is going to be one unified piece of artistry. And to think of the wholeness, the oneness that God intends to make of all of us. Verse 37, Thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. Reminds me of that famous CS. Lewis quote, that I believe in Christianity the way I believe in the sun. That not only do I see it, but by it, I see everything else more clearly. So yes, you can look at the candlestick, you can see the tree of life, you can see this burning bush. But because of the light that it provides, you can see everything else clearly also. You can see the sacrifice just across the room, and see in the bread of the presence, the face of God smiling back at you. In verse 38, he even mentions tongs and snuff dishes, and those, yes, are supposed to be of pure gold also. So yes, even the smallest, the most temporal, the most practical, just tongs and snuff dishes. Make sure those are of the best possible workmanship as well. Give your absolute best to God, no matter what you're doing. Then this chapter ends with verse 40. Look that thou make them after their pattern, the one which was showed thee in the mount. And I'm so grateful God continues to do that. Take us into the mountain of the Lord, and show us the patterns whereby to live our life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I've acted it out. I've demonstrated the whole thing. So come unto me, learn of me, and you'll be able to follow the same pattern yourself. Now with this explanation, this floor plan made out of words, we're now ready to learn a little bit more about the tabernacle itself that's going to house these things. We'll get some more specifics in a moment. It's chapter 26, verse 1. Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle, this is gonna be the tent of testimony itself, with 10 curtains of fine twined linen. Now picture what this is gonna look like. It's gonna be blue and purple and scarlet, with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. So they were cherubim made of gold that were part of the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. But now on the outside of the tabernacle itself, this tent of testimony are going to be sewn, woven, embroidered, cherubim as well. These are the angels that stand as sentinels. Can you pass them to enter the presence of God? How prepared are you? And there's going to be blue and purple and scarlet. Now we talked about the rainbow reminder, but also think of blue as water and sky. The firmament, the heavens above or the sea beneath, the waters of chaos being overcome in creation, the waters of cleansing, washing away our sins. Purple, think of royalty. And again, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Scarlet, again, think of blood, the sacrificial offering. And the tent of testimony itself is woven out of those materials. He goes on to describe the length and the width of each curtain that you're going to put together. And so there's loops on the edge and these clasps that connect it all together, each curtain to the next. Make the curtains of goat hair to cover the tabernacle. And he describes length and width of all of that and loops and clasps to again connect everything. And then verse 14, thou shalt make a covering for the tent of ram's skins dyed red, and a covering above of badger's skins. Now, it makes me wonder where they're going to get all this stuff, at least the badger skin. Now, scholars can't even agree on, is that exactly what it meant? Is it badgers or was it some other kind of animal? Some have even said it was actually seal skins, which would be fascinating. Would you get those down by the Red Sea? I don't know. But what's interesting is to think of these layers, one after the next after the next. There's the fine twine linen, the inner layer of blue and purple and scarlet. There is a layer of goat hair, and goats are an animal of a sacrificial animal. Cover that with a layer of ram skins, dye them red to make it all the more obvious that that is a sacrificial offering as well. This whole tent of testimony, this house of God, what covers it, I mean, think about it, that the tent is a covering, there's atonement, but the tent itself is being covered and covered and covered again, layer after layer of the Savior's love. To keep what is happening within holy and to shield it, to protect it from any of the elements from outside. That actually might explain that final layer even best. Badger skin or if it is seal skin, then it's waterproof and you have now pitched your ark without and within with pitch. You have covered the temple, the tabernacle in such a way that none of the waters of chaos can enter. Fascinating to see what's, there's a practicality there but there's a symbolism there that is so deep. I've even read some scholars that suggest if it's seal skin or even badger skin, it's so much more plain looking than this inner covering of blue and purple and scarlet. In other words, what do you see from inside compared to what do you see from outside? Outside, just this drab gray seal skin tent cover. Oh, but if only you could see what I see on the inside of this. What did we see of Jesus? We talked about Leah, the tender-eyed, that he too came to earth without any beauty where we would desire him. To think of the temple, I'm so grateful that they are made with such beauty in our day. The Temple of Solomon was mind-blowing. You'll get to that in the Books of Kings. But to see this tabernacle, you're going to have to have eyes to see, to really understand just how glorious and beautiful the House of God really is, and the Kingdom of God. Sometimes people from their outside perspective look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and don't see much. Oh, come inside, and you'll be amazed at the blue and the purple and the scarlet that just adds such beauty to what we're trying to accomplish here. Well, he continues his description in verse 15, Thou shalt make boards for the Tabernacle of Shatim wood standing up. And then at length, he describes those boards with length and width and tenons and sockets to hold them upright. This is, again, a portable temple. So how can we make things small enough that we can pack them up, load them on the backs of the Levites, and then move on to the next place God wants us to go? So here's the boards, here's the things that are going to hold them up. Here's bars and clasps and all. If the curtains need to be connected together, then the boards all need to be connected together so that we can construct this house of God in the wilderness. By the time you get close to the end of the chapter, we're now in verse 30, he's explained all of this, and the Lord says, Thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof, which was showed thee in the mount. Do you see it, Moses? Can you picture my divine design and go down and tell the people and build it? Oh, if you think of Joseph Smith, yes, the church employs architects, past and present, and Truman Angel, for example, was a great blessing in temple construction in the early church. But who really knew what the Kirtland Temple was supposed to look like? Joseph Smith. Who really knew what the Salt Lake Temple was supposed to look like? Brigham Young, who said he kept seeing it in vision. Every time he looked at the spot where it was going to be built. Talking to my great uncle Bill, oh yes, God is still the ultimate architect, and does give inspiration to show people just how his houses are meant to look. In verse 31, thou shalt make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen of cunning work, cunning being detailed, incredible artistry here, with cherubims shall it be made. So the veil of the temple in many ways looks like it's an outgrowth of the temple itself. That same inner covering of the Tent of Testimony, and now the veil to be able to pass through and enter the God's presence, is going to be woven along the same lines. And like I said, there would be several veils. There would be the outward, the outer one to enter the Holy Place, and then an inner veil to separate the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. These signs of separation from telestial courtyard to terrestrial Holy Place, and from Holy Place to celestial Holy of Holies, or to separate wheat from tares, and then go on and separate chaff from kernel. Remember, we saw that in the Doctrine and Covenants last year. It's multiple rounds of refinement. And to think of that kind of separation, we're seeing that within the Tabernacle itself. In verse 33, Thou shalt hang up the veil under the tashes, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil, the ark of the testimony. And the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. So just as I explained. That shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place, that's inside the Holy of Holies, put the lid on. And then verse 35, and thou shalt set the table without the veil and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the Tabernacle toward the south. And that shall put the table on the north side. And even those cardinal compass points are important. As I said, you go into the Tabernacle, and the table of showbread is on the right hand, and the lampstand, the candlestick is on the left hand. Well, here we get cardinal direction, so north and south. Now we can situate things. So if I'm entering and my right side is north and my left hand is south, which way am I walking to enter the presence of God? I'm going west. So the tabernacle is made to face, the entrance will face east. Many temples in our day are built to face east. The rising of the sun, the coming of Christ. And there's beautiful symbolism there, but then add it to the fact that to enter it then, to pass these cherubim, to enter the holy place, to make my way to the presence of God, and I'm walking west. And you remember when we talked about the fall and the cardinal directions of that, that Cain settled east of Eden, that great Steinbeck novel? We live our lives east of Eden, which means if we're going to come back into it and find our way to the Tree of Life, we'll have to walk west and pass cherubim and that flaming sword. We'll have to enter the Tabernacle, walk, walking west, pass the cherubim, pass that flaming sword, that light stand, and then pass the final veil into the Holy of Holies. The temple is meant to reverse the fall, and the Lord Himself is inviting all of us to enter. Now, 27, we're still not done. We've got lots of construction yet to go. And in verse 1, thou shalt make an altar. Now, there's going to be two altars, one outside the Tabernacle and one inside. This is going to be the outer one. We'll hold on and see the inner one in a moment. But it's going to be made of chateen wood, that same strong acacia, five cubits long, about seven and a half feet wide, and five cubits broad. So again, we're seeing a perfect square. The altar shall be four square and the height thereof shall be three cubits. So that's about four and a half feet. The cubit technically is the distance from your elbow to the tips of your fingers, roughly a foot and a half. So four and a half feet, that's about chest high, perfect for kind of a high work table, so to speak. And there's going to be some work done. In verse two, thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof. His horns shall be of the same and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And by horns, he simply means the four corners of this square altar, this is going to be a sacrificial altar. The four corners will have some kind of an outgrowth, okay? A horn that sticks up and out, although as it said, it's supposed to be of the same. Make it part and parcel of the altar, just like the cherubim were part of the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, just like the candlestick was all one thing. And so here, this is part of the sacrificial altar itself. Now, horns are a great symbol of power and authority. You picture the horns on an ox or a bull or a ram, and what they can do to defend the herd, to establish preeminence. And so think about this authority growing out of this sacrifice. If you think of, we'll actually see horns associated with Moses by the end of today's material in a really odd way. But to think of Christ as the lamb of God, but also as the ram of God. He is meek and lowly, but he's also powerful and strong with the authority of God. And his authority, his power grows out of his own self-sacrifice. I love Joseph's famous quote from the lectures on faith that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. No, that faith has to be a natural outgrowth of the sacrifice God asks of us. And so to think of these horns on the altar and what gives us power, what gives us authority, what grants us faith is our willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others and sacrifice for him who made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Beautiful, powerful symbolism here. To add to that, in verse 3, I shall make his pans to receive his ashes and his shovels and his basins and his flesh hooks and his fire pans. All the vessels thereof they'll shall make of brass. Like I said earlier, this is a workplace. This is a site of sacrifice. And so making these sacrificial offerings, and they're going to require the flesh hook and the fire pans and the shovels and basins and everything else. Make them of fine brass. They'll hold up a little bit better than gold with all of the fire and work that's going to be taking place. But every detail is there. Sounds a lot like what we saw in the Doctrine and Covenants about the Kirtland Temple. Of organize yourselves and prepare every needful thing. God does seem to be thinking of everything here. And yes, there's going to be rings in the corners of the sacrificial altar and staves to go through that. It's ready to move at a moment's notice just like everything else. Verse 8, as it was showed the in the mount, so shall they make it. Better blueprints. Verse 9, thou shalt make the court of the Tabernacle. So this is going to be like the walls of Temple Square. We are now demarcating telestial space. Okay. We've got the Holy of Holies. That's where we started. We back out into the Holy Place. That's the next thing he taught us about. Now let's back out again and explain what the courtyard will look like. We always think of things in ascending order, telestial, terrestrial, celestial. But for a God who always sees the end from the beginning, now he goes celestial, terrestrial, telestial. He goes from the inside and then works his way back out. But this court of the Tabernacle is described here. The south side, southward, there shall be hangings for the court, a fine twine linen of a hundred cubits long for one side. And he's going to say the same for the north and the east and the west and everything else. Like I said, this is just carving out sacred space, even just on the telestial level. It's still a degree of glory. It's not outer darkness. And so come into this courtyard, come out of the wicked world and enter the kingdom of God. Here's the gate by which you must enter. We'll progress far beyond from there, but that's our first step. And in Exodus 27, he walks you through the whole thing. How long and high the curtains are supposed to be and how to connect them all together and pillars and sockets and hook, hooks and fillets and all these kinds of things. There's actually some really great videos online you can find for a virtual tour of what the Tabernacle would have looked like. So this is this outer court. This is Temple Square now. Then verse 16, for the gate of the court, so how do I come into it? It shall be an hanging of 20 cubits of blue and purple and scarlet and fine-twined linen wrought with needlework. So the entrance itself, how I start on this covenant path is going to be marked by the same symbolism, the same attention to detail, the same artistry that the Tabernacle itself was made with, and that the veil of the temple or the Tabernacle was made as well. And in verse 20, Thou shalt command the Children of Israel that they bring the pure oil, olive, so olive oil, beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn always. In the Tabernacle of the Congregation, without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever unto their generations on the behalf of the Children of Israel. Pure olive oil, beaten, crushed, under intense weight. And so until this light-giving oil comes forth, what's Gethsemane mean in Hebrew? Olive press, where Jesus, the light of the world, was crushed under the weight of such darkness, the blood came from every pore. But that is what will give light and life to anyone else that finds themselves trapped in death or darkness. And that's what Aaron and his sons will always make sure is found within the house of God. A perpetual light. Think about what Abinadi said by way of his own testimony before his life was snuffed out by the priests of Noah. Speaking of Jesus, Abinadi said, He is the light and the life of the world. Yea a light that is endless, that can never be darkened. Yea and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death. One chapter later, Abinadi would be killed. But to have that testimony on his lips, now I'm looking towards a light that will never be darkened. And that's what was lit in the Tabernacle. Aaron and his sons made sure of it. I know this isn't a Biblical festival. But Hanukkah, which is celebrated around Christmas time to this day in Jewish households, that took place during the intertestamental period between the Old Testament and the New Testament. But it's called the Festival of Lights because it had to do with that candle stand and the responsibility to keep the light forever burning. And they didn't have enough light to... They didn't have enough oil to keep that light going as they were trying to prepare new oil, pure oil, olive, beaten for the light. The way that it's supposed to be made took time. And there was no way to keep the light going until they could provide more. And the miracle of Hanukkah is that insufficient light was sufficient. This was a multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, but in a different vein. It was a multiplication of oil. It was a multiplication of a miracle. Hanukkah is so much more than just the Jewish equivalent of Christmas so the kids don't feel left out when their Christian friends are opening things under the Christmas tree. No, it's so much more than that. And it grows out of this kind of symbolism from the Tabernacle itself. Chapter 28 is incredible. I actually am surprised that it wasn't one of the expected chapters this week. I'm grateful we're not going to skip over it here. Because this is where it becomes more personal. So far it's been floor plan, right? And furnishings and implements. Well, now it's going to be, we just mentioned, we end the chapter 27 with a nod to Aaron and his sons. You're going to be working within the holy place. You're going to be performing these sacrifices at the sacrificial altar before you even come in. Well, what are you supposed to look like yourself? What should you be wearing? And chapter 28 is the best place I know of in Scripture, to see the symbolism of the robes of the holy priesthood and to understand what Aaron and his sons were supposed to be wearing and what they were supposed to be realizing as they wore them. Oh, it's a beautiful chapter. It actually reminds me of the first year I played football. I was older than most and I was finally getting a chance to play tackle, which is what I had wanted to do. But I remember the day they passed out our pads. I knew where the helmet went, that was obvious. And I knew where the shoulder pads went. So, so far, so good. But when they passed out our football pants and all the pads that go with them, I had no idea where any of them went. And I was feeling a little sheepish. And as I was kind of hanging back and waiting for other, my teammates to start putting their pads in the right spot, so I would know where they went to at all. That's how cool as I was. And I'd look and go, oh, knee pads. That makes sense. There's a little pocket on the inside of the football pants, and that's where your knee pads. Oh, thigh pads. Okay, I guess that's helpful too. Ah, hip pads. Am I going to get hit in all of these places? Oh yeah, and then some. And then the tailbone pad, that was the one that was most confusing to me of all. But to see, oh, okay, everything here is meant to accomplish something. And the same will be true of the uniform of priesthood service that we see in Exodus 28. Maybe another analogy would be like a letterman jacket. And when you see someone's letterman jacket, and you can kind of start putting together the pieces or solve the puzzle of, oh, I know what sport they were in, or I know their interests of this, then there's just a lot you can learn about somebody just by looking at a uniform. Military might even be a better example of, you know, their rank. There's a lot of detail you can find about somebody just based on, do you know what all of these things mean on a uniform? So with that in mind, let's learn from Exodus 28 that the priesthood is not just something that you bear, it's something that you wear. And if you can learn about the wearing of the priesthood, then I think it will come to mean so much more when it's your turn for the bearing of the priesthood. So verse 1, Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Even Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer, Ithamar, Aaron's sons. Notice these priesthood holders are being taken from among others within the house of Israel. There is a setting apart, a difference that's going to be made here. A higher standard they must fill. In verse 2, Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron, thy brother, for glory and for beauty. You'll see those words come up a few more times today. Glorious, beautiful. Sound like creation? Sound like what God is making of the earth and what he's trying to make of his servants upon the earth? In verse 3, thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. We usually think of priesthood being meant to minister to other people. And yes, it does that. But twice already in this chapter, we've seen that it's meant to minister unto the Lord. First Great Commandment, Second Great Commandment, do we see our service doing both of those? And again, in their case, this was priesthood ordination of the sons of Aaron. In our case, we can be set apart for service toward others and service to God. It's all the same, King Benjamin would tell us. And that's both a male and a female thing, okay? Setting apart is for both. Priesthood ordination is only for men, but functioning under divine authority. Sisters, I hope that you see that this chapter will apply to you just as much as to the brethren. But you see what's going into their clothing in verse 3? Oh, these glorious, beautiful garments. You need to be filled with wisdom, the spirit of wisdom. If you're going to help in making them. It's going to come from people who are wise-hearted, which is an interesting juxtaposition. I think we usually think of wisdom being a mind thing, whereas here it's a heart thing. And so combining wisdom and spirit, combining heart and mind, all of these things must go into our own consecration. Am I giving all I can to God? In verse 4, these are the garments which they shall make, and they're all explained here in this chapter. A breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a broidered coat, a mitre, which is like a hat, a cap, and a girdle, which would be like a sash. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron, thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Now is that the third time we've seen that phrase? I counted, sure enough, ministering comes up in verse 1, 3, 4, 35, 41, 43. These are clothes to minister in, not just to be seen of man. In a way, these are work clothes, and yes, we have our work cut out for us. The temple is a place of temple work, as well as temple worship. And who better to do it than those who are clothed upon, covered their nakedness, given holy garments of glory and beauty that include robes and miters, caps, and girdles, sashes, trying to help people feel prepared. Look in the mirror, and what you wear is meant to teach you about what you bear. So let's learn about it. Verse 5, They shall take gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen. Sound familiar? Our ministry should reflect the house of him we serve, made from the same materials. The tabernacle itself was mobile, but we have even greater agility ourselves. Like Paul will say, that ye are the temple of God. Well, that sure looks like it. You are clothed in the same things the temple is. Verse 6, they shall make the ephod. Now, the ephod is a kind of apron that was worn over the robe. So think of an apron of sorts, and picture what it looks like. It's of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet. God really seems to like those colors and all that they signify. Fine-twined linen with cunning work. So like everything else in the temple, it is detailed, it's artistic, takes an incredible amount of wise-heartedness to make this. It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereon, joined at the two edges thereof, and so it shall be joined together. So this is an apron that in their case actually went up over the shoulder as well, to kind of keep it all together. Verse 8, and the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same according to the work thereof, even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen. So the curious girdle, not curious like, huh, that's weird, but curious like intricate, and again, detailed, like wow. It's like the liahona, curious workmanship. This is incredible. I mean, Nephi knew how to make tools and shape iron, was fascinated by the sword of Laban. But man, this thing is curiouser and curiouser. It's so intricate. I can't imagine who was able to design and build this thing. Well, far beyond mortal standards or specifications. Same thing here, this curious girdle, this sash, this girding up of the loins to keep this ephod, this apron in place. In verse 9, thou shall take two onyx stones, a precious stone, and grave or ingrave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone according to their birth. Verse 12, and thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod, for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. Now, can you picture with eyes to see what am I wearing, and what does it say about what I'm bearing? We talk about bearing burdens, right? And that's the shoulder, that makes sense. To think about the back is one good symbol for a burden, the backs of the oxen, right, with the Baptistry. But my shoulders, to bear it up, oh, I mean, what are all these staves? Everything that we see, all these furnishings have staves in the ring so that we can bear the burden of responsibility to serve the House of God. And to picture what's on my shoulders, the House of Israel is. What did we promise to do according to Alma at the Waters of Mormon? When we entered the gate, when we took upon ourselves the name of Christ, we covenanted to bear one another's burdens that they may be light. Can you picture that? On the shoulders of the High Priest, six tribes engraven upon this stone on one shoulder, the other six on the other. And so the whole House of Israel, it's my responsibility to bear them up, to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort, to bear them before the Lord. Why? Because they are precious to him. Hence the Onyx Stone, these are precious stones. Do you remember when Alma went off on this mercy mission, feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders to go and redeem those who had apostatized? He prays in Alma 31, Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious. Onyx stones, every one of them. Many of them are our brethren. Therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these our brethren again unto thee. Do we sense that, that we are one another's keepers? And if I am ever feeling weighted down by my responsibilities as a member of the church, then just take a look at the shoulder that is meant to bear those burdens for others. You will see their names etched into the precious stone itself, and I hope that moves us to meet their needs a little bit more willingly. In verse 13, Thou shalt make outches, which are these little settings, something to put them in, of gold, and two chains of pure gold at the ends. Of wreath and work thou shalt make them, and fasten the wreath and chains to the outches. These chains are what holds the breastplate in place. And that's what he tells us next. So here's this apron, this ephod. It's going to go over the robe. But over the ephod is going to go this breastplate, and it's called the breastplate of judgment in verse 15. Thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work, curious workmanship again. After the work of the ephod, thou shalt make it, there'll be some similarities here, of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. Verse 16, For square it shall be being doubled, a span the length thereof, a span the breadth thereof. So like so many other things we've already seen in the Tabernacle, this is a perfect square. We're looking for perfection here. We can't get it on our own, but Christ can get us there. That's why we sprinkle the blood upon us serving Him. That's why we sprinkle it upon the altar to sanctify our sacrifices. Verse 17 through 20 then describes what goes on to the breastplate of judgment. And it's an incredible list that would raise a jeweler's eyebrows. To think of emerald and diamond and sapphire, and half of them, I don't even know what they are. But each one is a precious stone. And they're affixed to this breastplate of judgment that the high priest Aaron would wear over his heart. And we talked about the shoulders. Now let's talk about the heart. And on the breastplate of judgment are 12 stones. Three or four rows of three. And upon each one is engraved a name of one of the tribes of Israel. You see, we only have two shoulders. So, we need six and six to cover everyone's need. But over the heart, oh, there's room for everyone. And every tribe and every member of that tribe, they're all different, but they're all precious. When I will make up my jewels, well, like I said, to fix them into the crown of God or here upon the breastplate of judgment of his servant. By the way, it's a similar list in Revelation Chapter 21 when John is seen envision the celestial city with its pearly gates and streets paved with gold. But under the celestial city is a foundation. And in fact, there are 12 foundations and they're made out of precious gemstone. There's amazing similarity and parallel between the house of Israel on the heart of the high priest and the foundations of the city of Zion, the celestial city. See, verse 21, he explains, the stone shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 12, according to their names like the engravings of a signet. We're going to etch this into the stone itself. Everyone with his name shall they be according to the 12 tribes. Verse 29, and Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment. Upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. He'd used that word memorial about the shoulder stones, and now he's using it again about the stones on the breastplate. Memorial, commemorate, remember. Same root in all of these, and it's this focus on other people. Which ought to define our priesthood service. It's not about us, and how amazing we look with all these precious stones. No, this is, do you know who you are? Why would I carve out time for you? Because you're written on my heart. Because you're a precious stone. Because I promised God I would help bear your burden. And if we can do that for one another, welcome to Zion. No wonder it's the foundation stone. Verse 30, Thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment, the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord, and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. So there we finally see the Urim and Thummim. Now, I am is the plural ending in Hebrew, right? The Urim, the Thummim simply means lights and perfections, plural. The Yale Insignia, by the way, Yale University in Connecticut, in the United States. It's one of my favorite collegiate insignias because it shows an open book which would have been the Bible to the founders of Yale, and on it is written in Hebrew, Urim and Thummim. I mean, how do we access light in its perfect form? We open the book that God has given us. We turn to him, the source of light and perfection. And to have a high priest tasked with the responsibility of judgment, bearing the breastplate of judgment, then you better have a Urim and Thummim in it with you. How on earth is Joseph Smith going to translate the Book of Mormon? I don't know. I need greater light and more perfection than my poor English grammar. I'll give that to you. I'll give you a Urim and Thummim. I will help you see. It's what's going to make you a seer after all. And so this high priest bearing a Urim and Thummim as part of the breastplate of judgment, memorial before the Lord, I'm just trying to do my very best by the people I've been called to serve. And so you better believe I will seek heaven's help every chance I need light and perfection because I can't produce it on my own. In verse 31, thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. So this is the robe we're going to wear underneath the ephod. There shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof, it shall have a binding of woven work round about the whole of it. We would call that a collar. As it were, the whole of an Haburgeon, that it shall not be rent. So picture this, if you will. We sometimes wear ponchos in the rain, and a poncho is basically just a big rectangular cloth, or piece of plastic in some cases, but it has a hole cut out in the middle, and you just stick your head through and it drapes over you forward and back. A Haburgeon, by the way, is a coat of chainmail, which again would have just been a big rectangular piece of woven metal to protect you from the swords and spear points of an enemy. And you put it, there's a hole in the middle, and you put your head through and it covers you. It protects you. It atones for you. That's what covering does, right? And I love that imagery of chainmail, because it is a real war with real casualties, as Elder Maxwell once said, that we're up against an enemy of all righteousness, and it's the powers of darkness in high places that we're up against. This is part of the armor of God. And so as I clothe myself, the breastplate of judgment, in Aaron's case, the breastplate of righteousness for Paul in the armor of God, but I'm geared up for battle. So here I am in this robe of the Holy Priesthood, a collar to keep it from fraying, that it be not rent, it says. You don't want this to tear. You don't want chinks in your armor. You want to be completely covered here. And so they weave this. In verse 33 is another really interesting detail about this robe. Beneath, upon the hem of it, so now the bottom edge of this priestly robe, make pomegranates of blue and of purple and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof, and bells of gold between them round about, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. Now, there's a famous picture, painting, of Moses laying his hands upon Aaron and ordaining him. And it's one of the best pictures I've seen to help us visualize just what Aaron is wearing while he's bearing the priesthood. And it shows really well the breastplate of judgment, the ephod underneath. But part of the things that we never seem to notice is, take a look next time you see it at the hem, at the bottom of the robe. And sure enough, there's little woven pomegranates there, alternating with golden bells. Now, what on earth is going on there? I actually love this one because the pomegranate is a beautiful symbol of fruitfulness. Because crack it open and what do you see? It's filled with seeds. In some ways, that's all it is. Open inside a pomegranate is just seeds. It's a symbol of fertility, of fruitfulness, of new life. I think I mentioned this in our episode on the fall, that sometimes it's even imagined, rather than an apple. We don't know what the forbidden fruit was. Most people just assume it was an apple. I have no idea why. But others have suggested, actually, maybe it was a pomegranate in all of its symbolism for being able to have seed since they couldn't have posterity until after they'd partaken of the fruit. Interesting. So those who are made to bear the priesthood, the authority of God to serve his children, how fruitful are you in your service? Is the hem of your garment lined with pomegranates? The woman with the issue of blood, when she touched the hem of Christ's garment, oh no, there wasn't a pomegranate woven on the edge. But virtue, life, fruitfulness, flowed out of him and into her. Is that the way we live our lives? Are we able to do that? And bells? Oh, golden bells. Well, on the one hand, no high priest would ever be able to sneak up on anybody. Because everywhere they go, you're going to hear them coming. I love the sound of church bells. I love the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. I love religious music. Anything that calls my ears to higher and holier thoughts and feelings. And to picture the high priest going about his work, his service, and bells ringing everywhere that he goes. There's just something, I don't know, fitting about that to me. Verse 35, it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not. Which is such a weird way to end that verse. We talked about this when we did our Easter lesson, but is that a hint that points to where that much later tradition, that you better tie a rope around the high priest's ankle to drag them out of the holies if something goes wrong on the day of atonement? That he not die there since no one can go in after them. Again, we don't have any evidence in the scriptures that's what they did, but that verse does seem to point in the direction of what that tradition is speaking to. Anyway, go back to verse 36, and we have another piece of clothing to focus on. This is the mitre, the hat, the cap. Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold. Engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, holiness to the Lord. Now, where have you seen that engraven in gold before? Thou now shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. Now, think about this. Here's this hat, this cap, that Aaron, the high priest, would wear. And there is this metal piece that is put on a blue lace and tied around the forehead. It's on the forefront of the mitre, which means you look at a high priest. And what's on his forehead just etched in gold? Holiness to the Lord. Well, from the high priest's perspective, what's on my mind? What ought to be on my mind at all times? Holiness to the Lord. And if I'm thinking about that, then of course I'm going to serve him faithfully and worthily. Of course I'm going to bear up the burdens of others. Of course I'm going to bear them upon my heart. Of course I'm going to seek God's guidance through that Urim and Thummim. And to his glory, it's never about me. I've yet to give myself a priesthood blessing. But when holiness to the Lord is on my mind, then I am in a better place to be able to give blessings to others. In verse 38, it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. Interesting, he's in some ways now stepping in as a sacrificial offering, a substitute for someone else's sin, to bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. You see how these high priests can bear the iniquities of the people to the Lord without becoming iniquitous themselves, or they can hear about the sins of others without becoming sinful in their own thoughts. Well, it's because holiness to the Lord is always on their mind. Great phrase in Titus in the New Testament, that to the pure, all things are pure. And so if you have holiness to the Lord on your mind, then you will not entertain someone else's sins when they are confessing them to you. No, you'll see past them to a broken heart or a contrite spirit that you want to bring to God. Holiness to the Lord on the mind has to be there. It will allow you to see other people's temptations without being tempted in similar ways. In verse 40, for Aaron's sons, thou shalt make coats. Thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty. So this is a much reduced version of Aaron's high priestly robes. The sons of Aaron's, the priestly robes then, still for glory, still for beauty, but simply consisting of a coat and a girdle and a bonnet, that is a cap. And think of that in terms of glorious and beautiful things that God wants all of us to be clothed in as we approach him, as we approach the throne of grace. In verse 41, thou shalt put them upon Aaron, the brother, and his sons with him, and shall anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. To anoint, there's the oil, there's Gethsemane, the olive press. You anoint kings and priests, so here are kings and queens and priests and priestesses. God really is interested in developing this holy nation, this kingdom of priests. He will sanctify them, that means to make them holy, to set them apart, to prepare them, to dedicate them. And to consecrate means to ordain or to make sacred or dedicate also. It comes from a verb meaning to fill or to be full. Oh, hands outstretched, ready to receive all that God is giving us. Filling us to the point of overflowing so the blessings God gives to us can be shared with everyone around about. Incredible symbolism in all of this. In verse 42, thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness. From the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach. So these breeches would be undergarments to cover their nakedness. There's Adam and Eve. There is an atonement made for the nakedness that results any time we partake of forbidden fruit. And then finally, verse 43, They shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die. There shall be a statute forever unto them and his seed after him. These garments will forever cover our nakedness. They'll always cover our sin. And as we approach God anytime we're serving in his name, thus covered, thus clothed upon, there is beauty, there is glory that God is willing to share with each of us. Now, once we've prepared the garments of the priest, are the priests themselves prepared? There's still some more ritual that needs to go into this. So Exodus 29, preparing the priests, verse 1, This is the thing that thou shalt do unto them, to hallow them, to make them holy, that is, to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock, there's a work animal, a beast of burden, just like these servants of God will be, and two rams without blemish. There's the sacrifice that took Isaac's place. Take unleavened bread, there's a nod to the Passover, to sinlessness, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil. So oil, now we're back to Gethsemane, we're back to kings and priests. Olive oil was used for light. There's the candlestick inside the holy place. It was used for healing. So much that came from oil. The anointed. Messiah in Hebrew means anointed one. Christ in Greek means anointed one. The Anointed One, take all of that. Also add wheaten flour, so wheat instead of tares here. All of that, shalt thou make them. You see how all things are made to point forward to Christ? That's the beauty of symbolism. Look for him in all of these things. In verse four, Aaron and his sons, thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and shalt wash them with water. So here they are washed clean before they enter the house of God, there at the door of the tabernacle. Then verse five, thou shalt take the garments and put upon Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastplate and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head and put the holy crown, that holiness to the Lord, upon the mitre. So now he's wearing and burying the holy priesthood. And then verse seven, Thou shalt take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head and anoint him. So as they are preparing for service, about to enter the tabernacle, they are washed, anointed and clothed, okay? These are all part of the beginning rituals, the initiatory ordinances, before they go in to serve God in his holy house. In verse 10, Thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. This way they are placing the sins of Israel upon it, transferring the sins of the people to this substitute. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. That's how they will make atonement for the sins of the people. That's where this sacrificial altar is out there before you get to the door of the tabernacle itself. In verse 12, thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. So we're sanctifying the altar of sacrifice, just like we talked about earlier. In verse 13, thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards and the call that is above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock and his skin and his dung shalt thou burn with fire without the camp. It is a sin offering. Now they're gonna do similar things with the rams and what to do with their blood and so on in this offering. But then this other interesting twist, they're gonna take some of that blood and wipe it on the right earlobe of Aaron and his sons and the thumb of their right hands and the big toe of their right foot. Now that's really weird. But I wanna save that one until we get to Leviticus because it's one of my favorite rituals, okay? And we'll talk about the symbolism of that later on. But think about these body parts and what you do with each one. We don't have the time to go into every detail and Leviticus would spend, we could spend a lifetime on, Jewish priests have. But to understand just what different body parts might symbolize, the part of the sacrifice is gonna be fat and liver and kidneys. And it's interesting to think what fat does, it offers a layer of protection for the body. I have way too much protection already, I don't need quite this much literally, but that's one of its purposes. The liver and the kidneys, what are those for? Those are for cleansing, for purification. Do you see some symbolism here? What am I offering to God and what's he offering to do for me? To cover me, to protect me, to cleanse me, to purify me? Meanwhile, what am I getting rid of outside the camp and just letting it burn out there for a sin offering? The flesh, there's the natural man, the appetites of the flesh, the skin, that's just my outward appearance. Who cares about that? I want to expose the inner man or inner woman so that God could make me truly clean. And the dung, I think that one barely even needs comment. Of just whatever the waste is within us needs to be removed and burned outside the camp of Israel until there's nothing left of it. In verse 21, Thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar and of the anointing oil and sprinkle it upon Aaron, upon his garments, upon his sons, upon the garments of his sons with him, and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. So blood and oil both being used to sanctify, to hallow, to dedicate, it's on the priests, as well as the priesthood garments, are those sanctified and hallowed as well. Throughout much of the rest of this fairly long chapter, he then walks you through a bunch of different kinds of offerings. We'll see more of them and talk about them more at length in Leviticus. But sin offerings and peace offerings and heave offerings and wave offerings and drink offerings, there's a lot of different kinds. Well, again, they all point forward to this great and last sacrifice of Christ. But part of it also is this is how the priests live and eat with a meat offering and a drink offering. The first fruits, the flesh of the first born, there's a lot going on to this that's both spiritual as well as practical. Remember, for God, everything's spiritual, but the temporal factors into it as well. It talks about it being passed down the generations to posterity through Aaron and his sons. Then when you get to verse 38, you see what we call the daily offering. Now, this is that which thou shall offer upon the altar, two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. So one in the morning, one in the night. This is the daily offering. We don't take any time off from that, these ancient priests. Christ certainly never took any time off from atoning for our sins. And so to think of every day, sun up and sun down, there's morning prayer, evening prayer, marked by the offering of ourselves to him, in hopes that he will receive what we are freely giving. Verse 42, this shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak there unto thee. Do we realize what God is offering to do when we approach him in his holy house? He wants to meet us there. He wants to speak to us there. Take some time the next time you're in the celestial room. You made it into the Holy of Holies, so to speak. And it is there before the mercy seat that we can commune with God. So let's do a little more communing. In verse 43, there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. You've been doing all of these sacrificial rituals and sprinkling blood and anointing with oil and the altar and the people and the priests and the garments of the priests. I'm trying to sanctify you. And my presence in the temple, I call temples epicenters of holiness that just begin to spread out the moment that they're dedicated. That seems to be what's happening here. Then verse 44, I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar. I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest's office, and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their god. I just want to live here with you. Can we be neighbors? Are you willing to build me a house surrounded by your houses? I want to be part of your life. Finally, verse 46, they shall know that I am the Lord, their god, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord, their god. We saw that through the plagues of Egypt a few weeks ago. This is God introducing himself to a pharaoh that refused to come to know him. Well, will we? That, the service we render, the priesthood we wear and bear, the house of God that we are trying to become as well as trying to worship in, those are always for us to come to know the Lord, our god, and to make him our god. He's trying to make us into his people. Now, there's gonna be more instructions in chapter 30. We still haven't even finished all of the inner furnishings. And so the first one he's gonna talk about is the incense altar. We've been talking about the altar of sacrifice on the outside of the Tabernacle. There's a second, much smaller altar inside the Tabernacle, right before the veil. Remember, we're going west. We pass the cherubim. We have this table of showbread on our right to the north. We have the candlestick providing light to our left from the south and there to our west, right before we get to the veil, is this altar of incense. Picture the smoke rising to heaven, filling the Tabernacle with its sweet savor. Verse 1, Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon. Of chateen wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, a cubit the breadth thereof, four square shall it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be of the same. Are we starting to see the repeated symbolism? We're starting to recognize these common elements here. Yes, it will have rings. Yes, it will have staves. Yes, this needs to be ready to move at a moment's notice as well. Verse 6, Thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee, and Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. He's going to burn incense in the evening as well. So morning and night sacrifices, morning and night sweet smells, morning and through the night, light. Honestly, walking into the Tabernacle would have been a feast for every sense. The sights, the sounds, the smells filling God's house. It's an incredible, incredible place that we're trying to create here. And what does this all represent? In Revelation chapter 8, verse 3 and 4, Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. See, John is having his temple vision there also. And here's this angel at the incense altar. Are you ready to follow me in? Oh, I don't know if you've ever smelled bad and just been really feeling really awkward around other people. I just hope they don't smell. And that's something that's really hard to distract people from or hard to hide. Well, we can cover our nakedness. I guess we can cover our stench. And in some ways, I used to joke that, thank heaven, that the smell of campfire is pretty good and really strong. Because I don't know what else could mask the smell of sweat on pioneers crossing the plains or just farmers working out in the field. In times where you didn't bathe all that often, thank heaven for campfire, natural deodorant there. Well, in this case, thank heaven for incense that can serve to cover the stench of sin. I do want to enter God's presence. Am I worthy too? I pray I am, and that's the prayer ascending to heaven. That's what makes incense and the smoke that rises from the incense altar, such a perfect metaphor for the prayers of the saints. That's what's rising heavenward. That is what's giving this sweet savor. I mean, incense to this day is used in many churches. When the older the church, the more likely there'll be incense. Just one more thing to add to the experience of those who are worshiping. Along those lines of prayer as incense, think of these words from the beautiful hymn, Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. Verse 4, prayer is the Christian's vital breath, the Christian's native air. Can you picture the smoke rising, mingling with the air, the breath? His watchword at the gates of death, he enters heaven with prayer. The altar of incense is the last thing we pass as we go through the veil to enter the presence of God. Or the seventh verse, nor prayer is made on earth alone. The Holy Spirit pleads and Jesus at the Father's throne for sinners intercedes. The Father's throne, that's the mercy seat. And here we are pleading to God that Christ might intercede on our behalf. The Spirit pleading with us and for us is smoke rising, filling the tabernacle. Verse 8, when Aaron lighteth the lamp at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Sound like pray always that you may come off conqueror. Then in verse 10, Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonements. Once in a year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy unto the Lord. So an atonement is made for the incense altar. That's fascinating. I think often we picture praying in order to invoke the atonement. But flip it around. And now you're invoking the atonement in order to improve your prayers. Is that something we need help with? I know I do. And to learn to speak with God in a manner that does justice to the identity of my conversation partner. Yes, it requires atonement even for that. Now the next few verses, he's going to talk about ransom, atonement money, paid to ransom the firstborn in all of these families. We're going to actually see more of that next week. So I'm going to hold off on those verses and keep the flow of the furnishings of the Tabernacle. Because when you get to verse 17, here's the next thing they're supposed to build. It's the brass laver. We would look at it and probably think of a baptismal font. But in verse 18, it says, thou shalt also make a laver. Now, lavar in Spanish means to wash. And so the same root here, this is a washing place. Make a laver of brass and his foot also of brass, so the stand that it sits in, to wash withal. And thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar. And thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. There's a famous verse that talks about be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. That's what's happening here. And so are we worthy to officiate? Are we worthy to act in God's name? Are we clean? Have we been washed? And notice the layout of all of this. The laver was between the tabernacle and the altar. So as I am entering the sacred space, as I'm leaving the wicked world behind, outer darkness, and stepping into the courtyard of the tabernacle, I first come to a place of sacrifice, where I will sacrifice my sins. There's my repentance. Then I progress on to this place of washing. There's my baptism, as far as our covenants are concerned. And now that I have repented and been baptized, I am ready to enter the house of God, so that I can fully make covenants, to see the light of Christ. There's Holy Ghost, the table of showbread, renewing covenants, the prayers of the saints, ascending to heaven as I prepare to enter his holy presence. It's actually really interesting to look at the floor plan of the smaller temples that President Hinckley built right around the year 2000. The Nashville Temple was ours when we lived in Tennessee. And just to see the way it was all laid out. Now, it's a little different because you enter from the side. But if you were to look at the long axis of those temples, it is a straight and narrow path with the baptismal font on one end and the celestial room, the Holy of Holies, at the other. And so to think of sacrifice, even to enter, cleanliness as you approach, and then continuing to make these ordinances until you have entered the presence of God. Architecturally, this is amazing. The rest of Chapter 30 then deals with two other items that were necessary. Holy anointing oil and then perfume. So we're back to smells now, beyond all of these sights and sounds. The Holy anointing oil was made of cinnamon, calimus, cassia, olive oil, and myrrh. And they were supposed to anoint everything. You read between verses 22 and 33, and it talks about all this anointing oil, and they anoint the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the candlestick, the Table of Showbread, the incense altar, sacrificial altar, laver, Aaron, his sons. Everything gets anointed. Verse 29 says, Thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. We see a lot of this in the New Testament, this fear of the communicability of sin or guilt, the contagion, we should say. They'd go, you can't touch a woman with the issue of blood. You can't touch a leper. Well, Jesus touches them both. And he doesn't become impure on their account. They become pure on his. And so with his holy anointing oil, made of all of these sweet savers, all of these kind of prayers mingling together, this is to sanctify and to make holy God's servants. And everything they touch turns holy as well. And then the perfume from 34 to 38. Like the anointing oil, it's made of sweet spices, some of which I've never heard of, Stacti and Onica and Galbanum. Now one I have heard of, frankincense. And since we saw Myrrh with the holy anointing oil, and frankincense is one of the ingredients of the perfume. Oh, and then gold in like every Tabernacle implement and furnishing. Gold, frankincense and Myrrh. What am I thinking? Along with all of you fellow Christians, I'm thinking Christmas. And wise men that were wise enough to recognize in this child. A king of kings, here's your gold. A lord of lords, here is your frankincense. It's used in worship. Prayer, saints, ascending. And here is your Myrrh, which was used in sacrifice. King and God and sacrifice, as they say in We Three Kings of Orient are. And Jesus was all of those. Now, it was used to anoint the high priest in ancient Israel. But for a young Jesus, it was used to honor the high priest of good things to come. Now, this perfume was placed in one spot, and that was before the Ark of the Covenant. So that's the one place you would smell it. I don't know about you, but smell to me has such a power to invoke memory. It could be something I haven't smelled in ages, and all of a sudden I'll catch a whiff of something, and I'm brought right back to where I smelled it once before. Like this was my grandma's lotion, or this was the perfume my wife wore when I first met her. Just these powerful smells. And to think to have a smell associated solely with the presence of God, come in on the Day of Atonement if you're the High Priest, and come in before the Ark of the Covenant, and that perfume, oh, it's God, it's Him, I'm here. And what a powerful thing not to use that perfume anywhere else. Let's not dilute the experience by having it associated with lesser things. This is God and God alone. Oh, this is amazing. Now, there we have, we've covered a lot today already, okay? And we still have a few more things that we need to focus on. By the time you get to Chapter 31, the layout has been described. We've seen the blueprints. We've got the thousand words to replace the one picture of a blueprint. But let's put it all together. Exodus 31 verse 2, the Lord says, See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and knowledge and in all manner of workmanship. So he's going to be our chief architect. He's the one that's going to help really put all of these things together and make the curious workmanship all come into play. Now his name is perfect for this. Bezalel means in the shadow of God. And since this is a tent of testimony, who better to create a shadow from the heat of the day than Bezalel? Think of this verse in Isaiah chapter 4. There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat. Bezalel would love this verse. And for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain. Oh, those seal skins to waterproof it. These layers of covering, all to cover us from the consequences of our sin. Yes, Bezalel, you are filled with the Spirit of God. God has called him by name. Multiple reasons there. Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, workmanship, it all goes into his qualifications. Nobody better to do it. Although he will have a second in command, verse 6, And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted, I have put wisdom that they may make all that I have commanded thee. And notice how personal this is. I have called Bezalel by name. And I, behold, I am also calling Aholiab. Aholiab, by the way, also can't beat the name. Aholiab means tent of the father. Of course, you were born to build the tabernacle. You are going to make the tent of the father of us all. And good thing you are surrounded with so many wise-hearted people that can come to your aid. We'll see more of that next week. Verse 7, he then reviews all the things they're supposed to make. The tabernacle of the congregation, the Ark of the Testimony, the Mercy Seat that is thereupon, and the table and the pure candlestick and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering and the laver and his foot. Oh yeah, and the cloths of service and the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons to minister in the priest's office and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded thee, shall they do. He then sneaks in a reminder about the Sabbath. Verse 13, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. This seems to be a common thread running throughout the Book of Exodus that they may know, Egyptian or Israel alike. But what's interesting is right on the heels of all of these chapters about the sanctuary, he then talks about the Sabbath. And you see the parallel? We are carving out sacred space and sacred time. And the Tabernacle is our sacred space, and the Sabbath is our sacred time. And both of them are sanctuaries from surrounding space-time. Oh, holiness in both. And they are both signs of our relationship with God, signs that we remember him. Will I carve out space to dedicate to him? And will I carve out time in my day? That is totally his to do with what he will. It then says in verse 18, And he, God, gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. If there's one thing that's harder than Chateen would, it's going to be stone from Sinai. And yet harder still is the finger of God, able to etch into that stone all of these things that God is trying to convey to his people. The rest of Chapter 31 reviews so much of what we've already seen about putting all of these ingredients together to build God a house. And a house not just for him, but a house for his people. A place where the two can come to become one. And sadly, we turn the page and look at Chapter 32 and see just how much distance Israel has yet to cover to be able to come into the presence of God. You see, Moses had been up on the mountain this whole time. We've spent a lot of time studying it. Well, his, this is nothing compared to the 40 days and 40 nights that Moses was up on the mountain. Meanwhile, what's been happening down below? Chapter 32, verse 1. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mountain, the people gathered themselves together into Aaron and said unto him, Stop, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. I haven't seen the guy in over a month. And this is the desert. Oh, we have to gather manna every day and double on the day before Sabbath just to be able to make it. And I don't know what he's surviving on up there. I wonder if he's survived at all. All that thunder and lightning and smoke and fire. I think it's time to move on, Aaron. And I guess you were his number two. Well, now you're our number one. Moses is delaying. Oh, remember when we talked about the child's game of peekaboo? And as an infant, that parent literally ceases to exist as far as the child is concerned until they come popping back into existence. Are we really that infantile that just because I can't see God for a time, I've stopped believing in Him? Or just because it's been six months since the last general conference, I've kind of forgotten that we have prophets in the land. Now, the Lord isn't delaying his coming, at least not for no good reason. Think back to those six days Moses had to wait before the seventh God begins to speak to him. Oh, what seems like delay or tardiness on God's part may simply be him giving us time to prepare for all that he's trying to offer us. And what's he trying to offer us? All that he has? That's why I find their language so interesting. When I say to Aaron, up, make us gods. In other words, make as in fashion, create a god for us, something more visible, something more tangible, something we can see. And the irony of that phrase, make us gods, is that's exactly what Moses was trying to do. Remember the verse from section 84, that he sought diligently to sanctify the people, that they might behold the face of God? I'm trying to help you become like him. That's God's whole purpose. He's trying to make you into lowercase g gods. No reason for us to create false gods ourselves. What are you thinking? It's interesting because in Ezekiel, when they're off in another foreign land, Babylon this time, the Lord reminds them of their Egyptian experience and says, then said I unto them, the people we've been studying, cast ye away every man the abomination of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God, not them. But they rebelled against me and would not harken unto me. They did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes. Neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. They just wouldn't get past those things. We've said it before, it was so much easier getting Israel out of Egypt than getting Egypt out of Israel. And here you see it. They wouldn't cast away their abominations. They wouldn't forsake their old idols. And I'll admit, old habits can die hard. I remember getting a ride from our elders quorum president on my mission. And there on his dashboard was his old statue of the Virgin Mary. Oh, he was a great Latter-day Saint, but he'd been a Catholic a lot longer than he'd ever been a Latter-day Saint. And yes, that old, oh, belief was hard to give up. And so here you have these Israelites. We need visible, tangible gods to worship. And I don't even know where Moses went. This is sheep without a shepherd. This is children without a parent. These are followers with no leader to follow. And we need something. So Aaron says to them in verse 2, Okay, fine, I'll do it. Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, of your daughters, and bring them unto me. Now, there's immediate acquiescence on Aaron's part. Oh, you want me to make you gods? Okay, well, give me your earrings. And so they do. They give him the earrings. And then verse 4, he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. After he had made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought the up out of the land of Egypt. Now, we need to understand something here that some wise scholars have pointed out, that we usually jump to conclusion and just think, oh, these horrible Israelites are creating pagan gods. Because back in Egypt, that's all we had. A god of the Nile and a god of frogs and a god of bulls and a god of everything else. And so let's make our own. And we like the bull idea. So let's make a young one and we'll make it a molten golden calf. Well, actually, what's interesting, even in the way they phrased it, these be thy gods, in Hebrew, these be thy Elohim, O Israel. And we'll see in just a moment the invocation of Jehovah right alongside it. So some scholars have pointed out, perhaps that's not pagan gods that they are trying to credit. They are trying to credit the true god of Israel. He's the one that brought us out of the land of Egypt. And we are using sacrificial animals as proxy in some ways. We talk about the land without blemish, the ram that took Isaac's spot. Well here is a bull, even stronger, mightier. Elohim is sometimes pictured as a bull. And if Jehovah is the son of God, then a calf? Is this a representation of the true god? It's possible. And in fact, according to some of the surrounding nations, the belief was that the true god, their gods, rode upon the backs of wild animals or domesticated animals, on the back of lions or the back of bulls. And so maybe this golden calf isn't even meant to be god, but rather God will ride upon it. I mean, the cherubim on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, there's the throne of God, and he would sit there upon it. So are they, I mean, is Aaron doing the best he can? Are the people not utter pagans, but children? And needing something more, again, tangible, visible to focus their faith? Interesting possibilities here. The real problem comes in verse 5. When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And that word is where we get Jehovah. So it's the true Lord they're trying to make a feast to. Well, they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Now, play there is to laugh, to mock, to sport. It sounds a lot like Laman and Lemuel on the boat, once they've been out at sea long enough to realize that we might actually make it. They were really humble when they first launched, and I can't blame them. It's like, we're going to die because Jerusalem was landlocked and Nephi's never built a ship before. But once it's proven, it's like, okay, we're good. And now we can forget the Lord our God that we've been so reliant upon a few moments ago, and we can eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we're not going to die. Well, here's, we're starting to see this. The problem, whether it's pagan false gods or a true god, part of it is making a graven image. God had said in The Ten Commandments, that's a no-no. Perhaps a bigger problem. Since we do have sculptures and paintings of things that are holy and that seems to be okay. What the Lord had said in The Ten Commandments was not just don't make them, but don't bow down to them, don't worship them, don't replace the Invisible God with something invisible that takes your eye off the real thing. Don't confine God to some kind of statue, some kind of painting. He's so much more than that. We do have paintings and statues in visitor centers and in foyers, but we don't have them in the chapel. In that place of worship, we're not bowing down before something, we're certainly not bowing down before something false. We're not even bowing down before something true. For that, we need to truly picture the presence of the Lord Himself. And Spirit before Spirit, come boldly to the throne of grace and come to know and worship God. Oh, that will sober us, far more than wanting to rise up and eat and drink and play in inappropriate ways. I will say also that it was all their earrings. Remember when they left Egypt with all of the riches of their masters, earrings and bracelets and jewels and so on. Why? So they could build a tabernacle with all the things that were described, right? The precious stones on the breastplate of Aaron and so forth. But, you know, I think we'll still have plenty of gold to make the table of showbread and the Ark of the Covenant and everything else. I'm just asking for earrings. I'm still going to give God almost everything he asks for. Can't I carve out a little bit of space for other things? Does he really want all my heart, my mind and strength? Couldn't he spare a couple of earrings now and then? And some token offering I can put in to some other purpose. I'll be careful, be wise. Because as we've already talked about earrings and piercing our ears, remember Exodus 21? What covenant am I making? And am I wanting to affix myself to the household of God? It's what we're building here, this Tabernacle. And will I serve forever or just put in some time? And then use earrings for lesser purposes. Instead of a hole in the ear to show the world that I am connected permanently to God. There is some interesting things going on here with those earrings. Now, verse 7, the Lord says to Moses, he's up on the mountaintop still, go get thee down for thy people, which thou broughtst out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. I picture Moses going, wait, wait, my people that I brought out? No, no, no, no, no. And now we're playing hot potato with the House of Israel. I don't want them. I don't want them. Well, you don't want, you see what's happening here? You're the one that made me do all that. But what's God after? Moses, I need you to take greater accountability for your people. I need you to feel and intercede. That's what's about to happen. Watch how it unfolds. In verse 8, they have turned aside quickly out of the way, which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. They turned aside. There's the counterfeit version of turning aside to see. It's the counterfeit version of repentance, since repentance is turning. They were on the path. Now they're out of the path. They turned aside quickly. Where is our perseverance in keeping the commandments of God? Where's our determination in our discipleship? No, they turned away quickly and now they're out of the way. Christ is the way. Here's the path, the straight and narrow. Jacob's ladder don't fall off, but they did. In verse 9, the Lord says to Moses, I have seen this people. Behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Their necks so stiff, they won't bow down in humility before God, nor will they look up to God in faith. Now, therefore, let me alone, God says to Moses, that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great nation. I understand what he just said there. Oh, I'm angry. This is righteous indignation and it is burning. So let me just wipe out the whole house of Israel and start over again with you. You can be Noah 2.0. Who was Adam 2.0? So I guess you're Adam 3.0. And we just start all over again with you. Now, this sounds really harsh. And didn't God already say, I'm not gonna flood, destroy the earth again with flood? Well, not with a flood of water. Well, this time we can do it with fire. Well, is God testing Moses by pushing consequences to such an extreme that he'll see how Moses reacts to it? I mean, Moses was playing hot potato, right? We'll actually see that better in the Book of Numbers. At one point in Numbers, the people are so, you know, murmuring and causing problems that frustrated Moses finally says, look, God, did I give birth to all these people? I'm not their dad. You are. So you deal with it. Again, there's this struggle and I can't blame them. These are all lamens and lemmels down below, right? And I've got to lead them to the promised land. Good luck. Well, it's going to take more than luck. It's going to take the heart of a leader. And I need you to claim them, Moses. I need you to make them your own, make their sins and their struggles your own. There's the condescension of Christ. Then you can lead them in love. True compassion in forming your every decision. So Moses, here's my thought. Let's just destroy him and start over. I mean, you're a good egg. Let's start hatching from you. And how's Moses going to respond? In verse 11, Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? He's turning the pronouns back in God's direction. Verse 12, wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, for mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from my fierce wrath, repent of this evil against thy people. Now that's gutsy to say that. Thankfully, the Joseph Smith translation corrects it. Moses didn't say, you know, God, you ought to repent. He says, the people will repent of this evil. Therefore, come thou not out against them. There's a true prophet interceding for his people. A prophet doesn't just represent God to the people, he also represents the people back to God. And here Moses, though not guilty, is assuming a portion of that guilt and asking God to be patient with them, to be merciful, to turn. If you turn away from wrath, I think they'll take advantage of the opportunity they have to turn away from sin. They'll repent if we ask them to. If we help them see what they're doing wrong and give them a chance to do better, I really believe they'll take it. And I picture God kind of keeping a poker face and going, really, Moses, hmm, interesting. So, you think I should be merciful, huh? You think I should give people second chances. Oh, I'm liking your leadership style already, Moses, since you're going to have to deal with that a lot. Are you ready to really own them as their leader? Are you ready to condescend to their level and then help them ascend back to ours? Because that's what I'm asking of you. You see, he says in that verse when Moses is talking to him, hey, this would just look, this would look really bad to the to the Egyptians. They would think that it was just mischief, that you're toying with them, cat and mouse. You brought them out so you could destroy them out here. Oh, no, they, the Egyptians need to think better things of you. To which I think God would say, oh, it's actually Israel that needs to think better things of me. Maybe even you, Moses, need to know better things of me. All these things that I've been doing, that they may know that I am God. Well, based on the plagues of Egypt, what do they know about me? Oh, that I'm powerful, that I'm almighty, but do they also know that I am all merciful, that I'm all loving. So I'm going to push the limits of justice. And when I take that, remember, here's proving contraries. When you take a virtue and push it to the extreme, it becomes a vice. That's why you need the opposite virtue to keep it in check and to keep it balanced. So here's God, a just God, pushing justice to such an extreme that it seems so harsh that a Moses is, whoa, I don't know if I want to go that far. Okay, yes, I get frustrated with them too, but yikes, no, let's not start over. Let's, okay, let's balance justice with mercy. Can you do that, God? And I picture God smiling like, oh, you better believe it. In fact, that's really who I am, even more than the just side. I just keep them in perfect balance. I'm wanting you to learn to do the same, since you're going to be judging all the great things. The captains of tens and fifties and hundreds can probably handle the easy ones. But for you, you're going to have to master justice and mercy closer to the way that I have. So watch how it continues to unfold. Verse 13, Moses keeps interceding. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel by servants, to whom thou swearst by thine own self and sayest unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven. All this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed and they shall inherit it forever. God, don't forget the covenant. All knowing, all remembering, God isn't going to have a problem with that. But I'm glad, Moses, that you're reminding me of it because it shows that you're remembering it yourself. Go down and remind the people that a covenant is a two-way promise. And yes, I'll remember my half. But will they remember theirs? They've forgotten already and it's only been a month and a half. Let's see how they do here. Do we remember the covenant? Do we bank on it? And do we want God to remember his side? Of course we do. But do we want to remember our own? That's the question. In verse 14, the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. He took Moses' advice. Now, there's a JST here that corrects that. Let's get to it in a minute. But the truth still holds, God didn't destroy the people. And that shows again his mercy, mercy that Moses is leaning into for good reason. Well, read the full JST though of that verse. The Lord says to Moses, If they will repent of the evil which they have done, just like you feel like they will, then I will spare them and turn away my fierce wrath. But behold, thou shalt execute judgment upon all that will not repent of this evil this day. Therefore, see thou do this thing that I have commanded thee, or I will execute all that which I have thought to do unto my people. So here's the Lord with his massive swing towards mercy, but not an overcorrection. That's our problem when we're proving countries. We're too just one day and then too merciful the next. Well, in this case, God is almost threatening too just, and Moses is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, can we be a little more merciful? Oh, of course. But Moses, you better not overcorrect. Because again, if you're going to judge correctly, you'll have to balance better the demands of justice and mercy. And Moses is going to try. Verse 15, he turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides, on the one side, on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. This is God's work and his word, not Moses'. They are set in stone. And will we be as firm as they are in keeping those commandments? The people down in the valley were nowhere near it. So, over 17, when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There's a noise of war in the camp. Can you see the scene unfold? Moses has been on the mountaintop. You get the tablets of stone. He's coming down. He passes Joshua on the way, which lets you know what's he been doing for the last 40 days and 40 nights? There's a good minister. There is a patient and obedient soldier. And I will not abandon my post until given direct orders by higher command. That was probably a hungry 40 days and 40 nights for Joshua too. But Moses comes down and that's when Joshua says, well, something's going on down there. Sounds like the noise of war. And he would know that since he was the general that led them against the Amalekites. But Moses responds in 18, oh no, it's not the voice of them that shout for mastery. Neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome. But the noise of them that sing, do I hear. Love how he said that. Not to shout for mastery. This doesn't sound like people that are trying to develop self-discipline and master the natural man. No. And the voice of them that cry for being overcome. No, they don't seem to be that sad that they're being overcome by the natural man at all. They're giving in to it wholeheartedly. This is the cry of eat, drink and be merry, because they don't care about consequence. In verse 19, it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger waxed hot. He's catching up to God now. He cast the tables out of his hands and break them beneath the mount. There's the old joke that there Moses is the only person to ever break all Ten Commandments simultaneously. But better than that joke is the statement by Cecil B. DeMille, the great director of The Ten Commandments movie, where he says, speaking to a Latter-day Saint audience, we cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them. They're the stone, and we might be hard-hearted and stiff-necked, but hitting ourselves against God's law, we're the ones that come away broken and bruised. What Moses has done here because of what they have done, let me help you visualize what you are doing. No graven images or no other gods before me or not taking the name of God in vain. Whichever commandments you happen to be breaking right now, let me demonstrate and break them all. James says that, if you're guilty of any sin, then you're guilty of all. There's some strong language to deal with. Verse 20, Moses took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire, its own burnt offering, and ground it to powder and straddle it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it. Now, if breaking the commandments was a visual aid to help them see what they were doing, then this one's even worse or more or better as the case may be, more powerful. You are consuming things upon your lusts. That's the scriptural phrase. You are internalizing iniquity. Okay, let's act that one out, shall we? I'm going to take this golden calf that's becoming, this idolatry that's becoming a part of you, this inability to trust in God and wait on him. And as you are bringing falsehood, false worship into you, let's do it. And I'll take this golden calf and burn it and grind it and make you drink the stuff. Yikes. My father-in-law said when his children were young, at one point they thought it'd be fun to mix peanut butter and honey together. And then it just got worse and worse as they were eating and that was fine. But then they started like, I don't know, throwing it at each other or like throwing it on the walls. And he came in and saw peanut butter and honey like dripping off the walls. He was so, his anger waxed hot. And he said, you want to behave like animals? Then fine, do it and lick this off the walls. There's some powerful parenting. And a little sheepishly, there they went, consuming the mess that they had made. And something similar seems to be happening here. In verse 21, Moses says to Aaron, now this is where a leader turns to leader, second in command, right? You were supposed to be taking care of everything. I thought I could trust you with this. He says in verse 21, What did this people unto thee, that thou has brought so great a sin upon them? Do you catch that Moses assumes? There's no way you would have done this willingly. What did they do to you? What did they threaten you with? What kind of arm twisting had to go into your acquiescence? But what do we see at the beginning of the chapter? They just asked, and he's all, Oh, okay. Can you give me your earrings? Yikes. So what's Aaron going to say? Is he going to confess? Verse 22, Aaron says, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. Now, Aaron's not looking too good here. He gives in without a fight at all. When he's confronted, he just passes the buck and shifts all the blame to them. I mean, you know them. I mean, they've been murmuring ever since we left. And so, oh, this kind of people, they're just, it's just the way they're wired. Forget, it's not my nurture or lack thereof. It's all their nature. And I can wash my hands of it and the responsibility is all on them. Well, he recounts what the people had said to him. You know, we don't know what happened to Moses and we need a representation of the God that brought us out of Egypt. And so will you make us one? Will you make us some gods? And then he explains his response in the most classic language. This is verse 24. Aaron says, I said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So so far, so good, but in this. So they gave it me and I cast it into the fire. And there came out this calf. Now I can't help but laugh at that. Wait, what? Seriously, Aaron, you want me to believe that they were begging you because they're bent on mischief. And so please make us this god of gold. And you just took their earrings and threw it into the fire and out came this golden calf? Come on, big brother. Golden calves don't just come out. I've sometimes joked with my students that Aaron is like the patron saint of avoiding responsibility. At least in this moment, in this scene, he's the patron saint of the passive voice. Because it just came out. You know, the passive voice, nobody has to claim responsibility. I didn't break the lamp. The lamp broke. I didn't hurt my little brother. He got hurt. It's the beauty of the passive voice. Governments use it all the time. Congress will say, taxes have been raised. They don't say, we voted to raise your taxes. They just, taxes have been raised. It's the weirdest thing. I have no idea how that happened. Here's Aaron doing the same thing. Yeah, it's strange. It just came out. No. There's personal responsibility to be taken. As a leader of the House of Israel, you need to be taking that responsibility, Aaron. We'll see Moses himself do better at that in a moment. Well, verse 25, when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies. Now, is this complete nudity? Not necessarily. Often in the Old Testament, it speaks of nakedness when it's just like wearing a loincloth or your underclothing. Either way, the word itself, naked actually here means out of control, unrestrained. The riotous, they've been let loose. That's actually a more literal translation. Just they let it all loose and there was nothing constraining them. They weren't flexing any muscles. They were just letting the natural man have free rein. But naked is a pretty good term for that. Completely uncovered. As Moses has been up on the mountaintop, learning about covering after covering after covering, and here they are down below, uncovered, fully exposed to the all-seeing eye of God and to the consequences of their sins. Oh, naked was a good word to use. Shame was another good one. Are we, not that we shame others, but are we ashamed of ourselves? Or are we past feeling? I'm trying to justify ourselves the way Aaron did. Verse 26, Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Great line here, who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. Interesting that it would be Moses' own people since he was a Levite also. But Levites, they're the ones that are going to be bearing priesthood responsibility. Oh, so who's on the Lord's side? It better be those that have taken his name upon them. It better be those that are ordained and set apart and dedicated and hallowed and sanctified and anointed. You said you'd be on the Lord's side. Well, now it's time to show it. And how did they do it? They came unto Moses. Am I on the Lord's side? Am I on the side of his prophets? There's a question each of us must answer. In verse 27, he says unto them, those that have decided to be on the Lord's side, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, put every man his sword by his side, go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbor. Now we just saw in the Joseph Smith translation of verse 14, thou shalt execute judgment upon all that will not repent of this evil this day. So of course repentance is a possibility here. I would imagine they be highly motivated to do it as the Levites come down with sword in hand. It's not to slay them all. It's administered justice and consequence to those who refuse to repent. Even if they're your brother or your companion or your neighbor, there cannot be nepotism in passing judgment. And you priests and high priests especially, you of the tribe of Levi, better make sure your loyalties are to the Lord and to no one else. Well verse 28, the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses and there fell of the people that day about 3,000 men, which would have been a tiny minority of those that had been worshiping before the Golden Calf. But the most belligerent ones, totally unwilling to repent. Verse 29, Moses had said, consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. Now the King James translation language of that verse is tricky. It sounds like a command. Go consecrate yourself. Everyone upon your son, upon your brother, and God will bless you. Other translations make this more clear, that it wasn't a command, it was a consequence. It was the result of what he's just seen them do. He's saying to them, today you have set yourself apart. You've consecrated yourself to God. I can tell. I have the evidence that even against your brothers, your companions, your neighbors, you put God first, and you kept the first great commandment before you wanted to keep the second great commandment. Elder Christopherson just gave a great talk at BYU on that exact topic, that the first and second great commandments, both of which are absolutely essential, and the second is like unto the first. There's a lot of overlap, but they're in that order for a reason. And who's on the Lord's side has to come first. For these Levites, it did exactly that, and they proved themselves through that process. In verse 30, it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, ye have sinned a great sin. Now, these were the ones that were spared. They were the ones that repented. But he administered mercy yesterday, but today he's reminding them of justice. He said, now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure, in other words, perhaps, just maybe, I shall make an atonement for your sin. Here again is a prophet interceding for the people. But realizing the balance, the delicate balance between justice and mercy, I hope, peradventure, I'm able to do this. And take your sins back to God. This is what the priests were going to be doing all along, right? Have the holiness to the Lord on their mind. It was on Moses' mind. Have the Urim and Thummim there, in the ephod, trying to receive revelation, the breastplate of judgment. I am going to bring you, my brethren, my precious stones, back to God in hopes that I can intercede on your behalf. Pray for me. I'll be praying for you. And in verse 31, Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold. He didn't sugarcoat it. He confessed their sins honestly, openly. And then in verse 32 continued, yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Now, do you see Moses really understanding it, justice and mercy? If thou wilt forgive their sin, they're leaning in the direction of mercy. Please do so. If not, if they've crossed the line and gone too far, and justice must intercede, then let me take their place. This is Simeon staying in prison so the rest of the brothers can go. This is Reuben saying, You can kill my own sons, Father, if I don't protect Benjamin. This is Judah saying, I'll go to prison so that Benjamin can go free. More importantly, this is Jesus saying, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Or as more often the case, Father, forgive them despite the fact that they know what they're doing. And please be merciful to them. And if you cannot blot out their sins, then put their sins on me instead. Moses in that moment becomes the Christ figure in this story. The type and shadow pointing forward to Jesus, blot me out of the Book of Life, as long as their names can still be written there. It's amazing what he's willing to ask there. Here is substitutionary atonement at its absolute finest. Well, not absolute, that would be Jesus. All of these sacrificial offerings, Moses is starting to learn what they're pointing toward, and he's willing to step into that place himself. The chapter comes to a close in verse 33 and 34, with the Lord saying to Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my Book. So this is personal accountability. You can't take their blame. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, my angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf, which Aaron made. Yeah, those last three words, that would hurt Aaron. You mean God saw through my passive voice? Uh-huh. Yeah, he knows that golden calves don't just come out. So Aaron, you're responsible. People of Israel, you are responsible. Moses, I'm not going to punish you for their sake. I'm not going to shift the burden of justice. I will do that upon my son, but only because he's the one worthy to do it. He had no sins on his ledger. You've got a few on your account, okay? That disqualifies you. But everyone must take personal responsibility, including the people. What you can do, Moses, is lead. All that we saw back in Chapter 18, lead them in righteousness. Teach them correct principles, and keep teaching them correct principles, and then do some more teaching of correct principles, and then someday when they're ready, hopefully, yes, let them govern themselves. There's a lot of teaching, a lot of leading to do, and Moses is going to do all of that as best as he can. The Lord is actually going to lead them as well. Notice how he does it in Chapter 33. And these last two chapters for today, this week, 33 and 34 are so powerful. 33.1, the Lord says to Moses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying unto thy seed will I give it. So yes, Moses, I do remember my covenant. I swear it unto Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. I'll keep it. Go do your part. Take this people which thou has brought. They're still doing hot potato with the pronouns. Verse 2, I will send an angel before thee. It's what he'd said at the end of chapter 32. And I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, I know them all, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. See, that's why they get an angel instead of God himself. Originally, pillar of fire, cloud of smoke, I will carry you through, just follow me. Well, you haven't been following me, Israel. You preferred a golden calf. And so, fine, I can't stay, because I don't want to consume you in my anger. Now, again, is he pushing justice to the point that Moses knows how merciful he needs to be, perhaps? But regardless, the justice in this verse suggests, you've disqualified yourself from the presence of God. But I will still send an angel before you. It's interesting that even in God's anger, he's kind enough to give lesser leaders. He punishes them with more than they had, just less than what God had wanted to give them. That always seems to be the case. We'll see more of that in just a moment. Now, in verse 4, when the people heard these evil tidings, bad news, we would say, they mourned. Is this godly sorrow? I hope so. No man did put on him his ornaments. That's the last time I'm putting those earrings back in my ear. The wrong way. I'm just going to leave the hole there to show that I'm worshiping or wanting to serve God. For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, ye are a stiff-necked people. I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee. They need to understand the consequences of sin. They need to know the just side of God. Therefore, now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee. The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the Mount Horeb. Interesting that the people of Israel had been wearing these earrings, wearing these jewels. They were their ornaments, though they were never intended to be. No, those were Egyptian ornaments. We're going to melt them down so that Bezalel and Aholiab can turn them into tabernacle implements and furnishings, gifts for God. What are you doing wandering around looking like Egyptians? Ornaments? No, this is not a matter of adornment. This is a matter of adoration. Who will you worship? This isn't personal consumption. This is consecration. Is this display or discipleship? Is this for self or for sacrifice? Are you willing to part with the things of the world in order to give God all that he asks of us? They're going to learn this next week. Now, in verse 7, Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. Now, it's tricky to see the timeline here. Is this a later flashback? Because they haven't yet built the tabernacle. We're going to see that next week. So, or is this just a change of plan that we're going to build the tabernacle, further away than we thought, or originally planned? Because we are further away from being a holy people than I had imagined. We've got a lot more work to do. So, you who are willing to do it, will you come without the camp? Will you leave your normal day-to-day, your lesser lives, and come out to be in a place where you can be close to God? In verse 8, it came to pass when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. Again, hard to tell the chronology there. But it reminds me of them watching him ascend Sinai. Just watching him go into the tabernacle. Glad it's him, not us. Glad he's willing to live those laws and keep those standards. But think about it, are we willing to follow the prophet or just content to stay and watch him from a safe distance? Glad I don't have to live the same standards that prophets and apostles do. No, God's holding us all to the same. And the hope eventually is that we all enter the tabernacle and all ascend Mount Sinai. That we all come back into the presence of God. In verse 9, it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door. Now you're starting to get it. We're worshiping the true God of Israel. You don't need a golden calf. Just have the faith to peer through that veil, that cloud of smoke, and you'll be able to talk with him yourself. You'll be able to worship him in righteousness and in truth. In verse 11, the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend, and he turned again unto the camp. But his servant, Joshua, the son of none, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. Again, kudos to you, Joshua, always staying as close to Moses as possible. But who else was close to Moses in that moment? God was. Speaking to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend, that is such a powerful verse. We saw at the beginning of today's material, these 70 elders seeing God and his feet, and what will he do with his hands, and this anthropomorphic being that created us after his glorious image. Yes, body, yes, parts, yes, passions, and a desire, not just face to face, but friend to friend. There's body parts and passions all rolled into one, having a conversation with his servant, his friend, Moses. In verse 12, Moses says to the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in my sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. Now, that's a confusing passage, but it suggests that Moses was confused himself. It's like he's getting mixed messages. You speak of justice and then you show mercy. You show mercy and then administer justice. You hold them accountable and hold me accountable, but you're willing to forgive. I've got some learning to do before I can really lead this people. So will you help me? You told me to bring, you told me to lead them, but you haven't told me where to go. I'm going to need some guidance to be able to bring this people to the promised land. I've never been there myself. You said that I've found grace in my sight. In fact, you said that you know my name and I know you do. I know yours too. You've revealed yourself to me. If that's true, will you do that? If I've found grace in your sight, then can I please find grace in my sight? That phrase keeps getting repeated and that's the idea here. The Methodists have a doctrine they call prevenient grace. Prevenient means to come before, so grace that comes before the grace, that God invites us into relationship. It's His grace that is extending the invitation, and it's His grace that even allows us to start accepting it. Although we don't use that term in the restored gospel, there's some truth to it. We have found grace in his sight. He's offering us that grace in hopes that he can truly offer us his grace. If we'll act on the grace he's given us. This is the grace for grace, and progressing grace to grace until we receive a fullness. That's D&C 93. But to see it kind of hinted at in verse 12 and 13 is fascinating to me. Please be with us the way you've promised. Please give us all that you've said you would give us. Please show me the way so I know how to show them the way. You know us. We know you. And we're trusting you on this. So God repeats the promise. He says in verse 14, My presence shall go with thee. I will give thee rest. And Moses responds, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. If you're not coming, then I don't even want to go. Which is a good attitude and interdependence upon the Lord. As long as you're with me, then who's against me? You are the way. I will follow that way. In verse 16, For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not and that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, which means distinct, special, set apart. I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. You see what Moses is saying there? How is it going to be known that we're your people if you aren't with us? So he's still dealing with this. You said you weren't going to come and you were going to send the angel instead. Does that really mean you're not going to be a part of this? How far are you delegating? Please be with us because if you're not with us, we can't go. And in that next verse, how else would we know or how else would surrounding nations know that we're your people if you're not with us? That's a great thing to consider. What sets us apart? It's the presence of God. What distinguishes his people? His presence, his light in our eyes, his spirit in our hearts, his attributes in forming the way we treat one another. That's a beautiful verse. How is it going to be known? Oh, it's that you'll go with us, and they'll know and will know. In verse 17, the Lord says to Moses in response, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight. There it is again. And I know thee by name. There's God's willingness to do what we ask of him. How does he feel about us? What does he know about us? I want to bless you out of justice. I'll even bless you out of mercy. I'm trying to balance the two, and that can be difficult. In verse 18, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Sound like the brother of Jared? And God responds, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious. To whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now, this is a fascinating verse because Moses is saying, I want to see your glory, which is odd because he's just been in it for the last 40 days and 40 nights. But that was pre-Golden Calf. Can you show me again? Can I just need to be reassured? The people need to be reassured that you're still with us, especially that thought of losing you and only having an angel. I need to see your glory. Again, that's the courage of the brother Jared saying, I saw a finger. Can I see all of you? Will you manifest yourself to me? He does. But notice the Lord's response to Moses here. Moses asks to see glory. The Lord offers to show him goodness. I love that. I will make my goodness pass before thee. And I think sometimes we miss goodness because all we want to see is glory. I want the shock and awe. I want to see the power of the plagues of Egypt. Oh, do you? I don't know. Or do you want to see God's goodness, his gentleness? I wanted to see the lion, not lamb. Well, maybe lamb is a better initial introduction. I've often wondered about Judas Iscariot and his coming to himself right after Gethsemane. He brought an army with him to take down Jesus. And when Jesus humbly submits, goes as a lamb to the slaughter, healing the servant's ear on the way, I wonder if that's when it really dawns on Judas. You think it would have dawned on him earlier, three years of following Jesus. But during those three years, was he too focused on glory and not focused enough on goodness? Maybe that's why he brought the army. This guy can command the winds and the waves. This guy can raise the dead. He can do anything. I'm going to need a force behind me. And when none of that force was necessary, and Jesus simply shuffled off for his unjust trial, I wonder if that's when the light comes on in Judas' darkness. I have totally misjudged Jesus, and so caught up in the glory, I failed to see his goodness. To me, even the way he said it of, I'll be gracious to those that I'm gracious to. I'll be merciful to those to whom I'll show mercy. It's almost like he's saying, Moses, you'll be surprised at the goodness you see. I'll be more merciful than you imagine, even here in the Old Testament. In Isaiah, when he says, my ways are higher than thy ways, it's in the context of forgiveness that he says it. I'm more forgiving than you are. I'm more gracious. I'm just more good. And in fact, there may be no better way to see my glory than to see my goodness. That's a beautiful sight. So keep your eyes open for that, Moses. In verse 20, God says, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. Now, that begs the question, then how do we explain verse 11, that God saw Moses' face, they speak face to face as friends. In fact, people who want to take down the first vision, people of other faiths that just can't handle the thought of Joseph seeing the father and the son in the sacred grove, they'll often quote that verse. Oh, no, no, no, you can't. That's impossible because Exodus 33, 20 says that no one can see the face of God and live. To which I want to say, okay, awesome, have you read the whole chapter? Because it's not very far away that Moses did see the face of God. Mano a mano, cara a cara, face to face like friends. So there must be something we're missing here. Now, they would say, no, there's something, we need to be more figurative in verse 11, and more literal in verse 20. To which I would say, who's deciding that? Why can't we be literal in 11 and figurative in 20? Who's deciding all of this? But there's also something here that's more helpful to believers. There's a Joseph Smith translation that clarifies the whole thing. Now, I know that's not going to help our friends of other faiths. They don't believe in the Joseph Smith translation, but this is helpful for us. Here's what the Lord really said. He says to Moses, thou canst not see my face at this time. So this is situation specific. Nine verses ago was fine, but not right now. Lest my anger be kindled against thee also, and I destroy thee and thy people. For there shall no man among them see me at this time and live. For they are exceeding sinful, and no sinful man hath at any time, neither shall there be any sinful man at any time that shall see my face and live. I do wonder if Moses is still struggling to find the balance between justice and mercy. Was he being, was he starting to lean towards too much mercy? And so, show me the glory, so everyone can see it again and know that all is well. No, Moses, they're not ready. You're not, not even you are ready for that. There's some time that needs to pass where they're licking their wounds and repenting of their sins and truly deciding to turn without me shocking and aweing them into, into obeisance. They need to humble themselves and I'll be merciful. And so, let's, let's hold off on that. I'm not going to do that at this time. But it's interesting because twice he uses the phrase at this time and twice he uses the phrase at any time, which to me says something. Not at any time will I bend this rule or break it. Some, my standards are constant. But your actions aren't. And sometimes you're worthy and sometimes you're not. And sometimes you're obedient and sometimes you aren't. And, and so at this time, this time of stiff-neckedness, this time of disobedience, then no. My constant standard would keep me from manifesting myself to you at this time. But if you'll change, if you'll turn, then I'll turn right back to you. This is the father of the prodigal son. I cannot follow you to your far country. I can't. Not at any time. But the moment that you turn back to me, I will come running. At this time or at any other, just turn, repent, come, and I'll find you. See what I'm trying to say there? God's standards never change, but as soon as we change towards Him, then He'll change towards us at that very moment. The chapter then ends in 21–23, the Lord saying, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by. It's the goodness I really want you to see, but I'll even give you a glimpse of my glory. That I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. To which Joseph Smith translation adds, As at other times, for I am angry with my people Israel. So not at this time. They're not ready. Now, some have turned those verses into a mockery, and others into a metaphor. For the metaphorical, it's, well, God, no body parts passions, obviously, doesn't have a hand cover or a back to be seen. For us, neither mockery nor metaphor, God passes by and covers, kind of veils the face of Moses. We'll see that veil again at the end of 34, but allows Moses to see a portion, catch a glimpse of his glory. And to me, there's something powerful here. There actually have been some scholars that have suggested the back of God, is this the bruised heel of the promised Messiah? That as he's walking away, just catch a glimpse of that heel that will be bruised as it crushes the serpent's head. That there is the condescension of Christ playing out before Moses. I do love the thought of the infinite and the intimate being balanced here. We studied that in Moses chapter 1. And to see the infinite glory of God, to the point that Moses, you cannot survive my presence right now. But I want to come as close as I can. And there's the intimate side peeking out from behind the infinite side. Moses, I do desire to be with you. I desire to be with the people. I want to be as close to you as you're willing to be close to me. So let's give the people some time to repent of this Golden Calf episode. And try to recalibrate and repent of their sins. Now there's going to be some adjustment along the way, because this, they are not anywhere near being ready to climb the mountain. They had a hard enough time just staying in the valley and not cross the lines. To go from telestial Egypt to celestial level of living at the top of Sinai, I guess that was too much to ask. Well, in my mercy, in my patience, let's give them more time and allow them to grow up in God a little longer. Let's add a secondary step. In fact, a stepping stool to get them accustomed to the altitude, and then they can keep climbing from there. That's what we see in Chapter 34. As we close this week's lesson, this is such an important chapter for us to understand. Yes, there's some Joseph Smith translation help that's really, really useful. In verse 1, the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first. And I will write upon these tables the words which were in the first tables which thou breakest. And be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. Now this makes it sound like God's looking down at Moses going, okay, yeah, you got a little ahead of yourself when you saw the golden calf. That's okay, so did I. And you kind of lashed out and you broke them. That's a bummer, because I carved those things personally. But don't worry. Why don't you come back upstairs and we'll print you out a second copy. Sound good? Now, that is what it sounds like. That's not what happened. And the Joseph Smith translation clarifies this beautifully. It says, The Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two other tables of stone like unto the first, and I will write upon them also the words of the law, according as they were written at the first, on the tables which thou breakest. So we'll still get the same Ten Commandments. But it shall not be according to the first, at least not in every way. And here's the glaring difference. For I will take away the priesthood out of their midst. Therefore, my holy order and the ordinances thereof shall not go before them. For my presence shall not go up in their midst, lest I destroy them. But I will give unto them the law as at the first, but it shall be after the law of a carnal commandment. For I have sworn in my wrath that they shall not enter into my presence, into my rest in the day of their pilgrimage. Therefore, do as I have commanded thee, and be ready in the morning. And then the verse picks up from there. Now wait a minute, there's a lot going on here. So first tablets had the law, second set of tablets is also going to have the law. Okay, good, no change. But what's up with priesthood? I thought, we were just talking about Aaron and his sons and consecrated and anointing and priestly robes and garments and you're giving us priesthood. Well, yeah, but not in its fullness. Not the fullness of the priesthood I had intended to give you. Remember we said that a moment ago, that when God curses us, he ends up blessing us with more than we had, just infinitely less than what he wanted to give us. Even murderers and liars and everyone else that's horribly wicked, according to section 76, still gets to go to a kingdom of glory, the Telestial Kingdom. It's better than what they had. It's just infinitely less than what God wanted to give them. And so when it says, I will take away the priesthood, he's talking Melchizedek Priesthood, or it's full name, I'm trying to make you into sons and daughters of God, like the son of God himself. You weren't ready for that. And I understand. And it's okay. I'm patient. I will give you time to acclimatize. Altitude sickness is a real thing. So as you're climbing Sinai, let's slow down the process a bit by say, I don't know, a thousand years, give or take. And let me give you a priesthood but a lesser version. Yes, it's Aaron and his sons. Ah, the Aaronic priesthood. Yes, it's for the tribe of Levi. Ah, the Levitical priesthood. I will give you that, but I am taking away the priesthood after my order. The Melchizedek priesthood, that you will not have. Now to make sense of this, go back with me to section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants, one of the three great priesthood revelations we have. And starting in verse 19, as the Lord says, this greater priesthood, Melchizedek, administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom. That's what Moses is trying to give them. Even the key of the knowledge of God, that they may know that I am the Lord. Can you come into my presence, commune with me, come to know me? Therefore, it goes on, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof and the authority of the priesthood, of Melchizedek, that is, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh. For without this, no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live. Ooh, that sounds like Exodus 33. What is it that separates our ability to see God from an inability? Well, the ordinances and authority of the Melchizedek priesthood. In fact, if you were to give the Melchizedek priesthood a key word, it would be God. Knowledge of God, godliness, power of godliness, face of God. It's all focused on God the Father. That's what Melchizedek priesthood is all about. It's his power. It's his authority. Well, if that's the word association with Melchizedek priesthood, what's the word association with Aaronic priesthood? We'll see it in just a moment. Keep reading D&C 84. Now this, everything I just explained, Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God. There's our key word. He did everything he could, all that we've been studying the last couple of weeks. But they hardened their hearts, could not endure his presence. Therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, we see that today, swore that they should not enter into his rest, while in the wilderness, which rest is the fullness of his glory. Again, great imagery for Sabbath. Keep going. One more set of passages from 84. Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst. We'll see that clearly at a later date. And the holy priesthood also, that's what we're seeing here, post-Golden Calf, Exodus 34. What's left, then? And the lesser priesthood continued. The Aaronic, the Levitical, the lesser. And then how's this for a definition? Here's your word association. Which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel. Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism. There's the altar of sacrifice and the brass laver on our way back into the Tabernacle of God. So, gospel of repentance and of baptism and the remission of sins and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel, all the way till John. John the Baptist, that is. Carnal commandments. Yeah, because they're a little too carnal. I'm going to have to spell it out because they need it to be spelled. We're going to have to teach them a lot more correct principles before they are able to govern themselves. So let's give them a preparatory gospel to help them prepare for the fullness of the gospel that Moses had intended to give them. Let's give them a priesthood that is preparatory before they receive the ultimate manifestation of God's power and authority, which is Melchizedek Priesthood authority and ordinances. You see, to me, it's amazing to take Exodus 34, especially the JSD, couple it with Doctrine and it's 84, bring them together and realize what's happening here. It's incredible. I used to do this with my seminary students. I'd have somebody, I'd bring somebody up, usually somebody athletic, and I'd take them to the desk at the front of the room and say, could you step up to the desk straight from the floor up to a desk that's like three feet off the top anyway. And they're like, oh yeah, no problem. And they'll just kind of hop on up. And I go, no, no, no, you cheated. It's like, what do you mean? It's like you hopped, you pushed off the floor to be able to step up to this level. I want you just to step up and have all your weight shift with no movement on the ground level, okay? Like what? Like basically, I want a deep knee, one-legged, full body weight squat, okay? Can you do that? Kind of hang over this desk and just raise yourself without pushing off from below at all. In all the years I did it, I think I saw like one student do it. I think he was a gymnast. I mean, just super strong quad muscles, right? The rest would always push off a little, and there were other students who were always quick to catch them in the act. So when they finally wave the white flag and said, I can't do it, they said, well, let me help you then. Let me add something that will be beneficial. Because the scriptures talk about the Lord adding the Aaronic priesthood or adding the law of Moses. To me, it's like what? In my arithmetic, that sounds like subtraction, not addition. You're going lower. Well, yeah, but that's only lower from above. You are going higher than below. I'm adding a stepping stool. Or as the Book of Galatians says, I'm adding a schoolmaster to help bring you unto Christ. Jumping from telestial to celestial was, I mean, you pulled your hamstring, okay? You got altitude sickness. So let's add a stepping stool. And I would push over the piano bench and say, can you do it up to here? Again, no pushing off on the ground. And that, since the leg was a little straighter, not such a deep knee bend, they were able to do it. And then from the piano bench up to the desktop, they were able to do that too. Ah, so it is easier to go from telestial to terrestrial and from terrestrial to celestial. It is easier to come from the base of the mountain and ascend the middle before you reach the top. It is better to pass through sacrifice and cleanliness to come into a holy place and have the showbread and the light and the incense preparing us to be able to finally enter the presence of God. Aaronic Priesthood is meant to help us prepare for Melchizedek Priesthood. And I don't mean it's a preparatory priesthood in terms of just, it helps deacons and teachers and priests get up to speed so they can become elders and high priests. No, it's more than that because it's the ordinances, right? For priesthood, it's never about the holder. It's always about the recipient of its blessings. And so how is the Aaronic Priesthood preparatory? We just saw that verse in section 84. It administers the preparatory gospel, repentance, baptism. It gets everyone else up to speed. It does it by repentance. It eliminates sin. And once sin is gone, then what happens? Then Melchizedek ordinances can come onto the scene to introduce us into the presence of God. That's the high priest coming into the Holy of Holies. Everything else was preparatory, preparatory gospel. Sin elimination, preparing then for one's presentation before God. Does that make sense? Let me give you the ultimate chart, okay, to put side by side, Aaronic versus Melchizedek. On the one hand, Aaronic is temporal, while Melchizedek is more spiritual. The Aaronic deals with the letter of the law, rules to follow. Whereas the Melchizedek priesthood deals with the spirit of the law, principles to govern your life by. Aaronic is more iron rod, and Melchizedek is more liahona. Aaronic is Aaron, and Melchizedek is Moses. If we want to personify them in the Old Testament, if we want to personify them in the New, it would be John the Baptist as compared to Jesus Christ. We just saw that it is angels compared to God. That is one of the real tip-offs here when the Lord says, I'm not going to lead you personally anymore. You've lost God, but I will give you an angel. You've lost Melchizedek, I will give you Aaronic. You've lost Temple, but I will give you Tabernacle. You've lost Celestial, but I'll give you Terrestrial. See how these all parallel? The Aaronic side is the lesser, like the moon. The Melchizedek is the greater, like the sun. So Aaronic gets you from Telestial to Terrestrial. Melchizedek gets you from Terrestrial to Celestial. Like I said, the Aaronic ordinances eliminate sin. It's going from guilt to innocence. But Melchizedek ordinances, that's for the introduction to God, to go from innocence to true holiness, someone like him. Aaronic are ordinances of preparation, and Melchizedek are ordinances of presentation. It's always God and godliness. Members of the Godhead, you get baptized, Aaronic. You receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, Melchizedek. You partake of the sacrament, Aaronic, so that we may always have his spirit to be with us. Member of the Godhead, Melchizedek. We eliminate sin. There's Aaronic ordinances. Now I can go to the temple. Melchizedek present you to the presence of God. Even temple recommend, you get it signed by your bishop. There's Aaronic priesthood. And then you get it signed by your stake president. There's Melchizedek priesthood. The heads of those offices in the ward and stake. On the one hand, Aaronic, there's justification, overcoming the sins of commission. Whereas Melchizedek, there's sanctification, overcoming the sins of omission. Aaronic changes your status, while Melchizedek changes your nature. Aaronic pulls weeds, while Melchizedek plants flowers. Aaronic reverses the fall, but Melchizedek reverses the condescension. We're ascending again with Christ. Aaronic, there's sacrifice. Melchizedek, there's consecration. Aaronic is concerned with outer actions. Melchizedek, far more concerned with inner attributes. You see what God is trying to do through Moses here, trying to get them up to speed. When in his justice, he knew that they weren't going to make it, then in his mercy, he offered them a preparatory gospel in hopes of getting them ready to take the ultimate step. We'll see this principle play out several more times in the coming weeks. It's evidence to me of the great goodness of God, far more than even his glory. In verse 3, back to Exodus 34, the Lord continues to explain to Moses, No man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before the mount. So we're going to start over again, back behind the line. Let's try this, take 2. Verse 4, he hewed two tables of stone, like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. This again sounds like the brother of Jared. I will molten these 16 transparent stones and take them up the mountain in hopes that God's finger can infuse them with light. Similar things would happen here for Moses. In verse 5, the Lord descended in the cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now, didn't you do that at the Burning Bush, like chapters ago? Yes, but let me do it again. In this confusion over, do you really know me? Or am I riding the top some molten golden calf? When you're looking for glory and I want to show you goodness instead, yes, I am that I am. But let me show you another side. Let me proclaim my own name, and he does in verse 6 and 7. Notice his list, it's beautiful. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. You see what he just said in proclaiming his name? I am a God of goodness. I'm a God of grace. I am a merciful Messiah, and I am long-suffering and forgiving. In fact, I'll forgive iniquity and transgression and sin. Call it whatever you will. I can forgive it all. Now, lest you over-correct and turn the virtue of my mercy into a vice and make me an enabler of iniquity instead of a caller to repentance, unless you make me overly indulgent or permissive, which does not describe God at all, then what's he say in the second half of the verse? By no means does that clear the guilty, at least not without their repentance. No, I will visit that iniquity upon their heads because they're accountable before me. See what he just did? He leads out with mercy though, and then pulls it back towards justice lest we take things too far to the extreme. I do love the name that he has just proclaimed to us. And if we can come to know that balance, that perfect proving of contraries, then perhaps we'll better be better able to navigate life ourselves. In verse eight, Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth, worshiped, there's his humility. And he said, if now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, that phrase keeps coming up, I love it. Then let my Lord, I pray, thee go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. This is no longer Moses playing hot potato with pronouns. He's picked the best one for the last. And it's the plural, the first person plural. It's we, it's us, it's our. I'm as guilty as they are. If I haven't been leading them in enough righteousness, I have as much sin as do they. But please take us. I'm in as much need of thy mercy and grace as the least of these, my brethren. Please be kind to us all. And the Lord is. In verse 10, he says, Behold, I make a covenant before all thy people. I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth nor in any nation. And all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord, for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Terrible, rough translation for 21st century years. Awesome is what we would say. So Moses, no worries. I promise you, I make a covenant with you, and I'm going to do marvelous things. You thought what I did in Egypt was epic? Forget about it. What I'm going to do to gather you back home to me, the mighty change of heart I can affect even among the hard-hearted, if they'll simply repent? No, it's going to be awesome. You just wait and see. In fact, speaking of seeing, look at verse 11. Observe, there's a sight verb, observe thou that which I command thee this day. Now, that means observe not just watch, but observe as in keep. Keep the commandments. Quick to observe, as Mormon said, Elder Bednar pointed this out. Quick to observe, yes, be vigilant and see what's happening among your people. But quick to observe, put into practice immediately the instructions that I give. And that's what he's asking them to do. Observe, thou, that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Peresite, the Hivite, the Jebusite. I'm clearing the path before you. And it's because I fear their influence on you. To go from being an Egyptian Israelite to becoming a Canaanite Israelite, that's not much of an improvement. I need you to be an Israelite Israelite, someone after my image and likeness. So I'm going to drive out all those other nations. Here's the advice, more than advice. Here's the commandment. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. Now we saw that snare warning at the end of the law in Exodus 23. Last thing we talked about last week. And to see the kind of traps the world would lay for us if we just step into them. Now there needs to be a differentiation. We need to be, who's on the Lord's side? I hope we all come running. We can't make covenants with them because we've made covenants with God. And we must be his peculiar people. In fact, almost every single time the word snare comes up in the Old Testament, it's in relation to surrounding nations and being too much like the world around us. It is a trap. And sometimes we find ourselves ensnared in those kinds of things. In verse 13, you shall destroy their altars. That would keep us from sacrificing to the wrong things. You must break their images since it wasn't after their image that you were created. You must cut down their groves. Now, there's a counterfeit for the Tree of Life. For thou shalt worship no other god. That was the first of the Ten Commandments. For the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god. Amazing God would reintroduce himself along those lines. He just said, I'm going to proclaim my name, and it was glorious and gracious and good. And now it's jealous? What? Well, yeah. Because no other god can give you what I'm trying to give you. So this is jealousy, not in a self-serving way. This is as generous a jealousy as you could imagine. Jealousy is my middle name. Actually, it's my first name. And so I want all your heart, might, mind, and strength. See otherwise, what's going to happen? Verse 15, 16. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take of their daughters into thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Strong language. Go a whoring? That's prostitution he's talking about. But yeah, you have prostituted yourself. You've been unfaithful to me. Jeremiah and other prophets later on will use covenant infidelity. They'll use adultery as their metaphor for covenant infidelity. Either way, it's unfaithfulness. Have we been cheating on God? Did it start with so small little things? I just went over and ate of their sacrifice. Okay, but those were sacrifices to false gods. And that's just a step in the wrong direction. What's next? Then you start worshipping those false gods. Then you start mixing and mingling their daughters with your sons, your daughters with their sons. And now we're intermarrying outside of the covenant, which means the covenant can't hold. It's not being passed down to that numerous posterity? No, it's being given up on. Now, please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we can't hang out with members of other faiths. I prefer what Nephi said, that there are only two churches out there. Forget denominational differences. Let's talk about big picture allegiances. Because for Nephi, there's only two. It's the Church of the Lamb or the Church of the Devil. That's it. Are you moving towards light or toward the darkness? Are you trying to build up the kingdom of God or support the wickedness of the world? Tabernacles or golden calves? The choice is yours. Which are you gravitating toward? We cannot afford to make covenants with anyone other than Christ. Now, verse 17, in the context of all that talk about other gods, he just throws this real quick one in. Oh, by the way, thou shalt make the no-molten gods. Yeah, if I wasn't clear enough, the whole golden calf episode, can we not do that again? The next few verses, he then repeats his commands about the three pilgrimage feasts, talks about the redemption of every first-born male. Again, he hits hard the Sabbath day. In fact, he says about it in verse 21, in erring time and in harvest, thou shalt rest. He didn't get that specific in the first time. It was just, oh yeah, six days labor and then the seventh day you rest. I can picture people going, but surely he doesn't mean that when there's too much work to be done, right? I mean, during harvest time, we got to get the crops in. During erring time? No, there's... So when push comes to shove and it's hard, we don't have to keep that commandment, right? And I love that the Lord says no, even in those times, thou shalt rest, even in tense work times, even with lots of deadlines, even long hours, honor me that day. It will end up honoring you. In 24, when he talks about the pilgrimage feasts, he says, neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. I like that one too. It's similar to what we just saw about the Sabbath. It's like, I can't leave my property to go down to the pilgrimage feast in Jerusalem because what's going to happen to it? It'll fall apart. It'll be preyed on by no man, enemies. And he's like, no, I gotcha. I'm not going to make you worse for wear by keeping your covenants. So come. Don't worry about being away from home or from work to serve in my kingdom. All will be well. Just trust me. In verse 27, the Lord says to Moses, write thou these words. For after the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. I love that phrase, after the tenor of these words. Other translations describe it as in accordance with these words, or literally upon the speech of these words, or according to the mouth of these words. In every case, there's a sense of the spokenness. There's the tenor. How does it sound? There seems to be this combination of the spoken and the written here. I'm speaking to you, Moses, but I'm going to write it in stone. I want you to read it in the ears of the people, but we'll also have it written so that they can study these words. But after the tenor, there's this situationality of speech. It's not so set in stone. Yes, it would be written on the tablets. But after the tenor of this, after this mouth, after this speech, you get the idea of this covenant? That's where I'm getting that with that verse. It just seems that the Lord is after a relationship. We can talk about this. You don't have to trip up over every jot and tittle of the law. Come talk to me. 2nd Nephi 9, the way he says it, it's a straight and narrow path. Yes, that seems like it makes it hard, but it lies in a direct course before me. So, what's the best, easiest, simplest way to navigate it? Just look at me and follow. Come. You don't have to stare down at your feet because that's actually not the easiest way to stay on a straight and narrow path. The easiest way to walk straight ahead is to look up and stride forward. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Just come. We can talk about anything after the tenor of these words. That's my covenant. He then says in 28, that Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Man, he's had another round of not fast Sunday, but fast month and a half. Oh, more preparation to put himself into a place where he could receive this law. Makes me think of Jesus at Jacob's well, when he's been speaking with a Samaritan woman as the apostles go in to get food and they bring it back, and he says, no, I'm fine, I'm good. And they're like, what? You get takeout? What do you mean, you're good? And Jesus simply says, I have meat to eat that you know not of. While Moses has been feasting upon the bread of life and the living water, they're in the presence of God. Trying to prepare everyone else to come and share in the feast with him. And then this episode ends in a fascinating way. Verse 29, it came to pass when Moses came. When he came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses whisked not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with them. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. There is something otherworldly about being in the presence of God and receiving his image in your countenance, to have that light shining in your eyes. Have you ever seen someone that seems to glow from within? Oh, that's Moses for you, to the point that he is radiant and the people are afraid, stands to reason since they were afraid of the pillar of fire and the cloud of smoke and the thunder and lightning and everything that was happening on Sinai. Well, here now, Sinai has descended to them in the person of Moses, and this brilliant light, they just couldn't, they couldn't handle it. And so just as God in His glory walked by and kind of veiled the face of Moses, covered him with His hand until you could pass by and just see kind of the trail of My glory, God does the same thing for Moses, or I should say Moses does the same thing for the people. In 31, Moses called into them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with them. And afterwards, all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment, all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. So he's giving them the law, and he's given it to them as law. Notice how he said it, he gave them in commandment all these things. How do we frame what we're teaching? As commandments, or just suggestions, or maybe some healthily hints? No, he gave them as commandments, in commandment. But how does he do it? In light, literally, of all this light that's coming from him, notice how the chapter ends. Till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him, with God, that is. Now, what I love about that, it's so interesting what's happening. Moses, you were with God. I want to be with God someday, but I don't know if I'm ready for it. And even just the looks of you, you are different. This is an overpowering experience. And so he veils his face. Now, if you've ever seen the old sculpture, the statue of Moses that Michelangelo made, it has horns, which are really strange. We talked earlier about the horns of the altar, right? And the horns of the incense altar, and these points of authority and power that protrude from the body itself. Well, when Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate, and when he was translated in the end of Exodus 34, instead of rays of light, which is what's described here as the skin of Moses' face shining, he translated it as horns, which was either a mistranslation or, if you know Jerome better than that, is he hinting at something about Moses and the power and authority that emanated from him, this ram caught in the thicket, more than just a meek and lowly lamb. There's both sides of Jesus. He is lion and lamb after all. But to see Moses as that personification and the light radiating from him to the point of true power and authority. Call them horns. Call them rays of light. Call them what you will. It's the power of God. And it comes from living a life of holiness. My dear friends, as we come to a conclusion of this week's material, and there was so much of it to cover, I pray that we see the light of the Lord shining through. From every pomegranate hanging from the hem of Aaron's robe, to the plate of holiness across his forehead, from the tongue or the tassel, to the Ark of the Covenant itself, I pray that we've seen God in his glory and in his goodness, shining through the messages that we've studied. I testify of him, and to anyone who is trying to flee Egypt and find their way to a promised land, to anyone who has plundered Egyptian riches, then the choice is before you. Will you build a golden calf or a tabernacle to the Most High God? I pray that what we've studied and the power of the Holy Ghost makes that choice abundantly clear. With whatever the world has given you, turn it over to God, and it will be holiness unto him.