Old Testament Lesson #23 "The Lord Be Between Thee and Me For Ever"

1 Samuel 18-20; 23-24 (and 25)

HOLY AND UNHOLY RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS

This reading assignment focuses on the opposite relationships between Saul and David, and between Saul's son Jonathon and David. Saul was an example of a persistent enemy and Jonathon was an example of an enduring friend.  Although Saul's relationship with David was unholy, David's relationship with Saul was always holy.  David never returned evil to Saul, but was ever forgiving (while still wisely protecting his own safety), leaving judgment of his old friend Saul completely in the hands of the Lord.  Very likely, Saul was seriously mentally ill with some form of paranoia and David, as well as many of Saul's servants, realized he was not himself, but a victim of our fallen existence.  (See 1 Sam. 16:17 JST, and 22:17.)

This saga teaches many important lessons about how we treat and view others.  Unfortunately, the reading assignment does not include Chapter 25 which tells the marvelous story of Abigail and David.  This is one of the greatest relationships in the Old Testament, because it is a type of our possible relationship with our Redeemer, a beautiful explanation of how Christ can heal us from the damage that others have done to us, if we will but forgive.  It would be very worthwhile to supplement this lesson with an explanation of the Atonement as found in the story of Abigail and David. 

ABIGAIL AND DAVID

As the story begins, David and his men had been pursued relentlessly by Saul and his army.  David found himself in the remarkable situation where he could easily kill his would-be murderer, but he left justice to the Lord and let Saul live.  After revealing himself to Saul, he said, "The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee...Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked," and David chose not to be wicked (1 Sam 24:12-13). 

Saul repented (verse 17), acknowledged David's greatness, and begged David not to kill Saul's descendants when David became king, as some kings would have done to prevent uprisings.  David promised and forgave, but he was smart enough to return to his hiding place in the wilderness.  (We are required to forgive everyone, but we are not required to trust those who have not proven trustworthy.)

THE OFFENSE AGAINST DAVID

So at the time that David was hiding out with his men in the wilderness, in fairly dire straits and wanting for provisions, "There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the [man's possessions were] very great...Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings" (1 Sam. 25:2-3).

The Hebrews attached great importance to names.  They didn't pick a name, as we sometimes do, just because they liked the sound of it, or the look of it; they didn't make up names just to be different, or conversely, to go with fashion.  They chose a name for its meaning, and often a person's name was actually changed at some point to reflect his state in life.  Naomi, for example, said to her kinsfolk, "Call me not Naomi [which means "pleasant"], call me Mara [which means "very sad"] for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me" (Ruth 1:20, with footnotes).

Similarly, the names of the subjects of this story are significant.  Nabal's name means "fool" and David's name means "beloved."  Abigail's name, although it is a female name, means "Father of rejoicing" (Bible Dictionary).  Perhaps the word "Father" refers to "origin" or "Creator," so that her name might mean something like "reasons to rejoice originate with or are created by this person."  Knowing that Abigail is a type of Christ makes this name significant.

So the characters in this story are:

• one person who is foolish,
• one person who is able to feel love, and
• one person who has the power to create joy.

David and his soldiers were in the same area as Nabal's shepherds (25:7), but contrary to the nature of soldiers to pillage and take what they like, David's men actually befriended the shepherds and protected their sheep from danger, and then sent messengers to ask Nabal very nicely (25:8) if he would give provisions to the hungry army.

Nabal sent a message back, denying David any help, justifying himself by saying that very likely David was just a runaway slave; this despite the fact that David was leading an army of six hundred men (25:10-11) and seemed to have been very well-known as King Saul's worthy adversary and potential successor.  (See 25:30-31.)  Truly Nabal was a fool.

DAVID'S RESPONSE

David's reaction to this affront was immediate and natural:  "Gird ye on every man his sword."  He left 200 men guarding the hold, and rode to annihilate the clan of the selfish Nabal and take his provisions, since he wouldn't share them with those who had voluntarily acted as his allies (25:13).  David's intention was to kill every last one of Nabal's men (25:22), since Nabal had returned evil for David's good.  (This attitude provides further evidence that David may have felt Saul was mentally ill, since he never expressed this type of vengeance toward Saul.)

Fortunately, one of the shepherd-messengers told the situation to Nabal's wise wife, Abigail, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to [greet] our master; and [Nabal swooped upon them as a bird attacking]" (25:14 with footnotes).  Further, he reported that David did nothing to deserve this kind of reception, but that, to the contrary, he had been a great blessing to the shepherds of Nabal.  "We were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: They were a wall [or protection] unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.  Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial [wicked or stupid man], that a man cannot speak to him [reason with him]" (25:15-17).

ABIGAIL'S ATONEMENT

Abigail was a quick-thinking woman who immediately perceived what to do.  She could see that David had been greatly wronged, and that he and his men really did deserve the provisions that Nabal had denied them.  She quickly assembled a huge compensatory gift:  200 loaves, 2 bottles of wine, 5 sheep already butchered, 5 measures of grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs.  She loaded the gifts upon donkeys and sent them ahead of her with her servants (25:18-19).  This was all done without the help or knowledge of her husband, the idiot (25:20).

When Abigail met up with David, "she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.  Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send" (25:24-25). Abigail fully agreed that her husband had sinned against David, and she also explained the reason:  Nabal was unintelligent, a fool, he lacked understanding. So Abigail compensated David for the actions of Nabal, and she begged him to spare Nabal for her sake, since she had been completely innocent of any wrongdoing (she "saw not the young men," the messengers).

But she claimed the sin upon herself ("Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be...I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid") after which she asked for many blessings to be upon David in repayment for his forgiveness (25:24,28-30).  Then she gave these very insightful reasons for him to forgive, addressing David as "my lord:"  "That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself."  In other words, she reminded David that vengeance would bring injury to himself.  It would bring sorrow to him.  It would offend his heart.  And he would be shedding blood for no cause, since she had provided everything that David needed. 

David recognized her words to be true.  In fact, she had included the very reason that he had decided previously not to kill Saul, even though he had both the power to do it, and the justification--he didn't want to suffer the consequences of the wickedness of vengeance.

David thanked Abigail for preventing him from committing the greater sin of violence against Nabal. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand" (25:32-33).

THE CONSEQUENCES FOR EACH

When Abigail returned home, her foolish husband was partying, drunken, reveling in his perceived cleverness at besting the mighty warrior David (25:36).  She let him sleep it off.  In the morning, when she told him David's reaction to his refusal to help, and how she had saved the entire household herself, he suffered a massive heart attack, fell into a coma, and died 10 days later (25:37-38).

When David heard of the natural death of Nabal, he credited the Lord for meting out justice, and returned to marry Abigail himself (25:39).  (David's first wife, Michal, who was the daughter of Saul, had been taken from him by Saul and given to another man [25:44].)

THE POWER OF THE ATONEMENT TO REPLACE SUFFERING WITH JOY

If we retell this story, placing ourselves in it, we can understand a little more about the Atonement, forgiveness, and their combined power to replace our pain with joy.  We can consider ourselves to be the Beloved, who has not deserved the wrong done to him by the Fool, and who has been abused, neglected, disrespected, unappreciated, slandered.  The Fool may not consider himself in the wrong, and may not ask for our forgiveness, yet the Creator of Joy (Christ) meets us on our way to angry retaliation, fully acknowledges the wrong of the Fool, and then, incredibly, takes responsibility for it!  He asks us to forgive Him for the Fool's actions, and offers us perfectly compensatory gifts to remove our suffering.  The Creator is always aware that a lack of knowledge and understanding is the reason for the Fool's sin, and will help us to see that as well, if we will listen to Him.

If we accept His offer and forgive the offense, we are freed from the desire to mete out vengeance and the ill consequences that such a sin would effect upon us.  All of our needs will be met by the gifts He brings, including those that were taken from us by the offense.  The anger will be removed from our hearts, and we will be able to feel the love of the Creator, and truly be the Beloved. We can then be united in purpose and perspective with the Creator, as if by a marriage, and enjoy the ensuing love, never needing to concern ourselves again with the wrong that was done.  All of the negative consequences will go to the Fool, if he never seeks repentance, and none of them will descend upon us.  We will be truly free.

(The basic idea for this scriptural interpretation comes from James Ferrell, The Peacegiver.)

FORGIVING CHRIST

James Ferrell writes, "Although the Lord doesn't actually ask us to forgive him, the effect of the atonement is such that it's as if that is what he is asking. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these,' the Savior taught, 'ye have done it unto me.' When we withhold forgiveness from others, we are in effect saying that the atonement alone was insufficient to pay for this sin.  We are holding out for more.  We are finding fault with the Lord's offering.  We are, in essence, demanding that the Lord repent of an insufficient atonement.  So if we fail to forgive another, it is as if we are failing to forgive the Lord, who...needs no forgiveness" (Ferrell, chapter 4).

Christ has already taken our offenders' sins upon Him, through the Atonement.  Our forgiveness can add nothing to the infinite Atonement, which they will receive if they repent.  If they do not repent, vengeance is the Lord's.  Their repentance is irrelevant to our forgiveness of them.  Our forgiveness of our enemies benefits us!  It frees us and brings us peace.

"Remember that if we grant this forgiveness in full, [Christ] atones in full for [our] pains and burdens that have come at others' hands.  He blesses us with his own love, his own appreciation, his own companionship, his own strength to endure.  And if we have these, what do we lack?"  (Ferrell, chapter 7) 

When our relationships with others are holy, as were David's, we are able to also have a holy relationship with our Redeemer, receive the blessings of the Atonement in our daily lives regardless of what others do to us, and experience repeatedly a return to joy and love after pain.  "The Lord be between thee and me for ever" (1 Sam. 20:23,42).

Old Testament Lesson #22 "The Lord Looketh on the Heart"

1 Samuel 9-11; 13; 15-17

In each of our lives, there comes a situation in which God our Father expects us to conquer a problem that is clearly far beyond our ability.  But if we make the attempt, we find that He will step in at the crucial moment and bring us off conquerors through His grace.  The classic example of this principle is the story of David and Goliath.

DAVID

It's helpful when reading the story of David and Goliath, to know that it is a composite of two different accounts, and is therefore not told in a perfectly chronological order (Harper-Collins Study Bible, p. 443).  For example, 1 Sam. 17:1-11 comes from one account, and verse 12 to the end of the chapter comes from the other.

THE BATTLE

The location of the battle in chapter 17 was between a small town (Shochoh) in the hills 14 miles west of Bethlehem, and a fortress (Azekah) a few miles northwest of that town (Harper-Collins Study Bible, p. 443).  The Philistines were challenging the Israelites, but not in the way the Israelites were used to.  The Philistines used champion fighting frequently and employed that tactic here.  Rather than a classic battle wherein all the soldiers on both sides fought each other, the greatest soldier, or champion, from one side would fight the champion from the other side to the death, and the outcome of that single fight would determine the outcome of the war.  It was therefore quite a gamble, but if one side had a particularly amazing soldier, it was a pretty good bet for them.  Such was the case with "the champion of Gath," Goliath.  Champion fighting not being the tradition of the Israelites, they did not have a ready contender, and were looking, unsuccessfully, for a volunteer when David arrived on the scene.

GOLIATH

The Bible tells us that Goliath's height was six cubits and a span.  This translates to be nine feet nine inches tall (Institute Manual, p. 278).  The Septuagint (or original Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and the Dead Sea Scrolls both report that Goliath was four cubits and a span, which would make him a more reasonable size of six feet nine inches tall.  Either way, he was a pretty big guy.

Goliath's coat of armour weighed the equivalent of 5,000 shekels of brass, estimated to be 150 pounds (Institute Manual, p. 278).  He had a helmet of brass, brass shinguards, and a brass neckguard (footnotes to 1 Sam. 17:6).  By all of this information, we then can see that Goliath's only vital exposed spot would have been his face.

Goliath's weaponry was state-of-the-art.  The spearhead alone of his javelin weighed either 12 or 26 pounds, depending on which Bible scholar you read.  "The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam" (1 Sam. 17:7), which "probably means that the spear had a thong attached to a ring, similar to the rod and ring of a weaver's heddle rod, by which the spear could be slung in battle.  The spearhead is iron, a metal harder than bronze that was available because of new metalworking techniques being introduced in the region at the time; according to biblical tradition, the Philistines carefully controlled the new technology" (Harper-Collins, p. 444).  In addition to his armour and his weapon, he had a shield-bearer in front of him. 

Goliath was a truly formidable foe.

DAVID

David, as we all know, was an accidental soldier.  He was actually a shepherd and a musician, a younger brother of three of the soldiers, and was at the battle only as an errand boy, although it is mentioned in the scriptures that he was a shield-bearer for Saul.  (This is another good time to remember that the story might be slightly chronologically confused.)

"All the men of Israel, when they saw [Goliath], fled from him and were sore afraid" (1 Sam. 17:24).  David, disgusted with the lack of faith in Saul's army, volunteered to be the Israelite champion, saying, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? (1 Sam. 17:26).  He tried wearing King Saul's armour, but was unaccustomed to it (1 Sam. 17:38-39).  So he worked with what he had.  He used the skills he had gained as a shepherd and the weapons he used against wild animals who attacked his sheep (1 Sam. 17:34-36).  He used the faith he had gained when the Lord spared him from the bear and the lion in those incidents to assure himself that the Lord would save him again (1 Sam. 17:37).  Like Hannah, in the previous lesson, David had an eye of faith.

His weapon was a shepherd's sling which consisted of a small piece of leather to house a stone, with long strings on either side, which the person would grasp, one string between his fingers, and the other between his index finger and thumb, whirl around his head, and then release his thumb, thus flinging the stone.  "A greater distance from the axis of rotation creates more velocity, enabling the slinger to hurl a projectile with violently destructive force. However before this can become a weapon the slinger must achieve a proper marriage of power and accuracy. This requires an abundance of practice and patience, unlike most point & shoot weapons of today." (Quote from hubpages.com.  This link also has instructions for making your own shepherd's sling--cool!)

David used his own specific talents and resources, but most of all, he relied on God.  "Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands" (1 Sam., 17:45-47).

Following this courageous and faith-filled statement, David ran toward Goliath, slung his stone, and downed the gigantic Philistine with his first shot, accurately striking his one vulnerable spot: the forehead between his eyes.  David, who didn't have a sword of his own, cut off Goliath's head with his own sword.

THE ROCK

There is a beautiful symbolism in the defeating of Goliath with a rock.  Jehovah was the rock in whom David trusted.  As Hannah sang, "There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God" (1 Sam. 2:2).  Christ said of himself, "Wherefore I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel.  He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall" (D&C 50:44).

TODAY'S BATTLES

In our society, in our families, and in our personal lives, what are the battles we face against overwhelming odds?  Do we have specific Goliaths, problems that seem impossible to conquer?  As we do our best to trust in the Lord, and as we call upon the resources that are available to us, and use the unique skills we have acquired in our lives, the odds will be irrelevant.  "Victory will be yours...You have His power within you to sustain you.  You have the right to ministering angels about you to protect you.  Do not let Goliath frighten you.  Stand your ground and hold your place, and you will be triumphant" (President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, May 1983)

President Ezra Taft Benson kept this verse in his wallet:  "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 54: 17; 3 Ne. 22:17; see also D&C 71:19).

---------------------------------------------------

The Old Testament Video Presentations has a good 4-minute segment on David and Goliath.

For another blog on David and Goliath, with great illustrations and interesting research into the weaponry and armour of Goliath, check out The Bible Illustration Blog.

Just for fun, here is a video of the delightful Christian a capella group, Take 6, performing "David and Goliath".  See the lyrics here.  (Notice they bring out the fact that David, the musician, trusted in the "Rock of Ages.")

Old Testament Lesson #21 God Will Honor Those Who Honor Him

1 Samuel 2-3; 8

(Teachers may want to have a vision screening chart posted at the front of the classroom.) 

How important is your vision?  Imagine for just a minute what it would be like to become blind.  If you wear contacts or glasses, remember what it was like to put them on for the first time.  What if we didn't have glasses?

"The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness" (Luke 11:34).

Now think about your spiritual vision, "the light of the body."  Do you remember what it was like before you had the amount of faith you do now?  What if we didn't have scriptures, prayer, a prophet, commandments?  How little would we be able to see?

"And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad" (Ether 12:19).

Even with glasses, there are limits to our vision.  There are things to see beyond the abilities of the human eye.  Scientists working with infrared light must trust their instruments to see things that are beyond their own vision.  So do doctors using MRIs and CT scans.  Faith is vision beyond our own spiritual eyes, trusting in the Lord to see for us.

"Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes...the design of God...and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation" (D&C 58:3).

HANNAH: ONE WHO HAD AN "EYE OF FAITH"

(In the Old Testament Video Presentations, there is a nice 3-minute segment about Hannah.)

Hannah was so emotionally stricken by her lack of children that she could not eat.  She was sick with worry, and terribly sad.  But after visiting the temple and being promised of the prophet that she would have a child, she "went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad" (1 Sam. 1:18).  This little sentence tells us a lot: that before she even left the temple, Hannah was certain her prayer would be answered.  She had a true eye of faith.

Hannah offered her only son as a Nazarite for life.  She apparently went beyond the basic Nazarite requirements found in Numbers 6 (never cutting hair, touching a dead body, or consuming alcohol), to actually "lend him to the Lord" for a lifetime of service at the temple (1 Sam. 1:11,27-28).  This might have meant that she was giving up her security in old age, as well as the progeny of her family if he did not marry--almost all the material reasons why a woman would have wanted a son--for the joy of being a mother.  Offering to give the thing she wanted the most proved her worthiness to the Lord.

Although Hannah gave her child Samuel to the Lord, she still acted as a mother for him, and expressed her love for him with the annual visit and coat (1 Sam. 2:19).

HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE HANNAH'S STATE OF FAITH?

The following psalm is a classic form of Hebrew poetry called "synonymous parallelism," which means it says the same thing multiple times, each time in a slightly different way:

"(1)The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
"(2)The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 
"(3)The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
"(4)The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes...
"More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:7-8,10). 

So by keeping the commandments,

(1)our souls become converted, which is the same as saying
(2)we become wise, which is the same as saying
(3)our hearts are rejoiced, which is the same as saying
(4)our spiritual eyes are enlightened. 

This is the simple process by which we develop an eye of faith. 

But didn't Hannah have a whole different set of commandments than we do?  In detail, yes, but in spirit, exactly the same:  the shema.  (See "Prayers" in a a previous post.)

The shema is found in all four of our books of scripture:

• Old Testament:  Deut 6:5
• New Testament: Matt. 22:36-40
• Book of Mormon:  Moro. 10:32 
• Latter-day Revelation:  D&C 59:5

1 Cor. 13:13 tells us love is greater than faith.  Why?  Because faith is fueled by love (Gal. 5:6).  Without love, there is no faith.  As we know and love the Lord more, and have more experiences with His love, our faith and trust in Him grows.

So how can we learn to love the Lord more?  (Scripture study, service to others, Sabbath observance, etc.)  It all comes down to keeping the commandments.  When we understand this, we can see that John 14:15 is actually a redundant statement:  "If ye love me, keep my commandments."  The two parts of that sentence are the same thing, stated in different ways.

"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14:15-16).  Keeping the commandments brings the Spirit to us.  The Holy Ghost is our infrared camera, our MRI, our guide beyond what we can see.

FRUITS OF FAITH

There is a little parable about a child who has a string of dime-store pearls.  They are her dearest treasure.  Her father asks her to give him the pearls.  He gives her no reason except to prove her love for him.  She hesitates for a long time while he continues to ask.  Finally, she gives him the pearls, and is surprised to receive from him in exchange..a real pearl necklace.

Anytime we give something to the Lord in faith, we come out ahead.  So it was with Hannah.  "And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went unto their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters" (1 Sam. 2:20-21).  Hannah did not ask for anything beyond the one son, but because of her faith and commitment, the Lord gave her much more than she asked for.

D&C 59:5, the Latter-day statement equivalent to the shema, reads, "Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him" (D&C 59:5).  The "wherefore" in this sentence signifies that the reason for this commandment is given before it:  "Behold, blessed, saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory, according to my commandments. For those that live shall inherit the earth, and those that die shall rest from all their labors, and their works shall follow them; and they shall receive a crown in the mansions of my Father, which I have prepared for them. Yea, blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel; for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth, and it shall bring forth in its strength. And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time—they that are faithful and diligent before me" (D&C 59:1-4).

In order to develop this "eye of faith" that brings such great rewards, we must learn to be guided by the commandment: to love the Lord our God in everything we do.  The more we love Him, the more we trust Him, the more we find we can live by faith, the more wise and joyful we will be.

Old Testament Lesson #20 "All the City...Doth Know Thou Art a Virtuous Woman"

Ruth; 1 Samuel 1

The scriptures are full of treasure hunts and mysteries.  If we hunt through the genealogy of Christ as recorded by Matthew, we find an odd collection of women mentioned:  Tamar (Thamar), Rahab (Rachab), Ruth, and Bathsheba ("her that had been the wife of Urias") (Matthew 1:1-17).  Matthew's purpose in writing his gospel was to convert the Jews to Christ, and so he specifically chose to mention those ancestors who had significance to the Jews.  It's unusual that women would be mentioned at all--Luke's genealogy of Christ contains only the men (Luke 3:23-38)--but we find amazing treasures and mysteries in those particular women mentioned by Matthew.  Not one of them had a perfect, traditional family situation.  Each was faced with trying circumstances specifically relating to motherhood.  Bathsheba had an extramarital affair with a king who then arranged the death of her husband so that he could marry her; Tamar was the twice widowed abandoned unwed mother of twins; Rahab was a converted Canaanite harlot, who endured the destruction of her entire city, integrated into a different culture, and raised a son whom we will see was a type of Christ; and that son's wife, Ruth, was a converted Moabite, a widowed pauper, who proposed her own marriage to a man much older than herself, and was undoubtedly not the first wife.  It is Ruth's story that we tell today.

THE LETTER OF THE LAW

In the Old Testament, and up until the time of Christ, many of the Jews became obsessed with "the letter of the law," completely missing "the spirit of the law."  What is really the difference between the two?  One word:  Love.  The spirit of the law is found in the shema:  "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deut. 6:4-5).  (See "Prayers" in a previous post.)  The Book of Ruth is a beautiful story, tucked amid many bizarre and brutal accounts of justice twisted into vengeance, a perfect example of a family who lived the whole law, letter and spirit.

CHAPTER ONE: THE JOURNEYS

The levirate law is found in Deut. 25:5-10, the first part of which is: "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her."  If the brother refuses, the woman has the right to confront him in front of the city elders, who then defend her case, and if he still refuses, he is shamed, but the woman is left destitute.  Tamar was one who was dealt a terrible injustice when this law was not administered to her.  (See Gen. 38, and "Opposites" in a previous entry.)

In the first chapter of Ruth, we find a family of three women who all have been widowed: Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.  Naomi was an Israelite living in the land of the Moabites, about 30-40 miles from her homeland (Old Testament Institute Manual, p. 262).  The Moabite god was Chemosh or Molech, and his worship was the cruelest idolatry known, involving horrific child sacrifice (Institute Manual, p. 247).  Clearly, Naomi's daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, were converts to the gospel, or she would have been appalled at her sons' marriages.

At the deaths of her sons and the end of the famine that had brought her to Moab, Naomi decided to return to her kinsmen where she hoped to be cared for by family as tradition dictated.  She sent her daughters-in-law back to their families for their own welfare, since she had no other son for them to marry (vs. 11-13).  Orpah went back to her family, but Ruth "clave" unto Naomi, with the beautiful words, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me" (vs. 16-17).  By staying with her mother-in-law, Ruth knew that she may be condemning herself to death by poverty, but she wanted to watch over her mother-in-law.   In addition, she was true to the gospel and likely wanted to live among the believers.  And so together they traveled back to Bethlehem.

Ruth ignored the letter of the law, and kept the spirit of the law, loving the Lord her God, and her mother-in-law as herself.

CHAPTER TWO: THE GLEANERS

The law of welfare practiced by the Israelites is stated in Lev. 19:9-10:  "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.  And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger:  I am the Lord your God."

Ruth and Naomi were "welfare cases" and therefore Ruth went to glean in the fields.  Providently, she happened to glean in the fields of a near kinsman to her father-in-law named Boaz.  Boaz asked his servant who she was, and the servant answered that she was the Moabite who had come back with Naomi.  Boaz treated Ruth with great kindness, calling her "daughter," telling her to glean only in his fields, commanding his reapers to leave extra for her.  In one day, she gleaned an ephah of barley, or 2/3rds of a bushel (Bible Dictionary).  Stunned at Boaz's generosity, she asked his reason.  Boaz replied that her reputation had preceded her, since she had been so unusually kind as to leave her ethnic homeland and care for her mother-in-law.

Boaz kept both the letter and the spirit of the law, motivated by the love he saw Ruth exercising toward Naomi.

CHAPTER THREE: PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE

The law of the Moabite in the congregation stated that "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever: because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee...Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever" (Deut. 23:3-6).  (See a previous post for the story of Balaam.)

So by her birth, Ruth was not just a second-class citizen in Israel, but was not allowed at all.  The reasons were that not only did the Moabites refuse aid to Israel, they also led the Israelites into idolatry.  Ruth, however, did the opposite of both of these:  She aided Naomi at the peril of her own life, and she converted completely from idolatry.  Boaz and the community all recognized this: "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth 2:12). 

Naomi counseled Ruth to propose a Levirate marriage to Boaz, and Ruth boldly followed through.  This turnabout was probably necessary, since the elderly Boaz was not the closest kinsman, and did not expect young Ruth to desire to be his wife.  Boaz said, "And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman" (Ruth 3:10).  The name Boaz meant "in him is strength, swiftness, quickness" (footnote to Ruth 2:1).  Boaz lived up to his name, as Naomi testified, "Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day" (Ruth 3:18).

CHAPTER FOUR: REDEEMING

The levirate law was also called the law of the near kinsman (or go'el).  The word levirate is taken from the Latin word levir, meaning "husband's brother."  As stated above, the brother of a dead man was expected to marry his widow for the purposes of 1) saving her life, 2) returning her to her former status, and 3) providing seed to perpetuate her family.  If there was no brother, the next nearest kinsman was to take the role.  In the case of Boaz and Ruth, there was a closer kinsman, but Boaz emphasized that Ruth was a Moabitess (vs. 5) when approaching this man with her case, and the man rejected her, freeing Boaz to be her go'el.  This word go'el literally translates to "redeemer," and was borrowed by the later prophets to describe Jesus Christ's role (Institute Manual, p. 230, 263). 

Boaz acted as a true redeemer to Ruth and Naomi, and kept the whole law, letter and spirit, restoring to them all they had lost.

The community issued love and good wishes upon the marriage, hearkening back to their revered ancestors, Rachel, Leah, and Tamar (vs. 11-12).  They said that Ruth was better to Naomi than seven sons (vs. 15).  The number seven in Hebrew means perfection, so it really doesn't get any better than that.

The neighbors appropriately called Ruth Naomi's daughter-in-law, as did the narrator, but Naomi never did.  Six times in the story she refered to Ruth as "my daughter," evidence of her great love for Ruth.  Boaz did the same (except when downplaying her qualities in the presence of the other near kinsman).

CHRIST THE REDEEMER

The story of Boaz and Ruth is the story of Christ and us. Christ is our near kinsman, who 1) saves us from death, 2) raises us from our fallen state, and 3) gives us eternal increase.  He is the family member who redeems us, the destitute. 

Christ exercises both justice and mercy, the letter and spirit of the law.

We as Latter-day Saints have many commandments to obey.  We could write an enormous, long list.  But when Jesus was asked which of all the laws was most important, He quoted the shema: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).  Paul explained further, "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.  For [all the commandments are] briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:8-10).  Christ (Jehovah) taught it; Paul explained it; Naomi, Ruth and Boaz lived it.  As long as we act in love, we need not fear missing the spirit of any law.

John issued this injunction to us:  "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:7-11).

Note:  I chose to focus only on Ruth and cover Hannah and 1 Samuel in the next blog entry.

Old Testament Lesson #19 "The Reign of the Judges"

Judges 2; 4; 6-7; 13-16

According to Camille Fronk Olson, "The title of judge assumed neither a line of succession, nor permanent assignment, nor absolute power.  It is uncertain whether judges were called to serve by the Lord or by the voice of the people.  Whatever the case, they appear to have been selected because of their particular wisdom, valor, leadership capacity, or trust in the divine" (Women of the Old Testament, p. 112).

Twelve judges are itemized in the Book of Judges:  Othneil, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephtha, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon,and Samson.  "Six of the judges probably acted as strong tribal leaders rather than heroic deliverers and are mentioned only briefly; however, stories of the other six judges are full of heroic deeds and colorful episodes...

"In these charismatic judge stories, a pattern repeats itself over and over as it does in the Book of Mormon. The Israelites do that which is wrong in the sight of the Lord; they forget their covenant with the Lord and choose to follow the beguiling gods of other peoples. They are tested and tried by one or another of the other peoples in Canaan until the Israelites remember their covenants (Judg. 2:20–23; Judg. 3:1–4).  After some years of tribulation and regret, the Israelites remember the Lord and repent of their wickedness; they cry out for help. A leader arises who, with the Lord’s help, saves the people from their oppressors. The people then enjoy peace for a time...

"Samson followed the sin-chastisement-repentance-deliverance pattern in his own life as he waged his war against the Philistines (Judg. 14–16)"  (Kristen E. Lichman, "Deborah and the Book of Judges," Ensign, January 1990).

DEBORAH CALLS TO ARMS

"Although they didn’t hold the priesthood and did not have equal authority with the prophets, prophetesses—inspired women with strong testimonies called upon by the Lord to perform various tasks—do not seem to have been unusual in ancient Israel. The writer of the book of Judges shows no astonishment concerning Deborah’s role as prophetess, judge, and deliverer" (Lichman).

The amazing story of the battle involving Deborah is briefly told in a page and a half of scripture (Judg. 4), repeated in another page and a half (Judg. 5) in poetic form.  The children of Israel were confronted by the Canaanites.  Barak, an Israelite captain, was called upon by Deborah to lead the battle, and to muster "ten thousand men" (Judg. 4:6). The word alafim, translated as "thousand" in military passages in the Old Testament, probably means a unit of professional soldiers, possibly 300 men (Harper-Collins Study Bible, p. 381; "A Problem With Numbers", LDS Institute Old Testament Student Manual, Enrichment Section E; Olson, Women of the Old Testament, p. 116).  This might possibly mean that Barak's army consisted of 3,000 troops.  However, it is not necessary to know the number of soldiers to know that the Israelites were vastly outnumbered, once we read that the Canaanites had an army of "chariots of iron," (very possibly the actual number given, 900) accompanying their "host" or army of foot soldiers (Judg. 4:13,15).

"The Canaanites...used chariots as their primary weapon.  Three fully armed [soldiers] rode in each chariot box: one guided the chariot, one attacked with a sword or lance, and one guarded the occupants from enemy blows with a large shield.  In all probability, the entire chariot would not have been made of iron, but the chariot box would have been plated with iron with, perhaps, iron scythes projecting from the axle on either side to protect the lower body of the soldiers who drove it" (Olson, p. 119).

Chariots, of course, had wheels and were therefore only functional on fairly flat land.  They could not attack Barak and his troops while they were camped on Mount Tabor.  But the Lord had said to Barak through Deborah, "I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon[,] Sisera, the captain of [the Canaanite] army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand" (Judg. 4:7).

Barak was very frightened to fight this battle and refused to go unless Deborah was there to lead with him (verse 8).  Deborah must have been extremely courageous (or in other words, filled with faith), for Barak, although apparently lacking faith in himself and in the Lord, had faith in her presence. Barak's name means "lightning" (see Bible Dictionary), perhaps a foreshadowing of the way in which the Lord would fight his battle.  Was Barak's lack of faith the reason that, although in the previous verse the Lord said he would deliver Sisera into Barak's hand (verse 7), in the following verse Deborah said that the battle would not be for Barak's honor, but that the Lord would give the victory to a woman (verse 9), a gutsy, daring, clever woman like Deborah?

So the Israelites descended from the mountain and entered the valley where they were wholly exposed to the fearsome state-of-the-art weapons of destruction, the chariots.

THE LORD FIGHTS THE BATTLE

In the first telling (Judg. 4), we don't get much information about how the battle was actually won. The narrator simply tells us that "the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his host." But in the second telling (Judg. 5), we read, "the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted [or quaked] from before the Lord" (verses 4-5). "Zebulun and Naphtali [the tribes that offered the most soldiers for the battle] were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones" (verses 18-22).

You can view pictures of Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley at BiblePlaces.com.

"Megiddo was a strategically located fortified city that had not yet been conquered by the Israelites.  Taanach was a swampy, poorly drained area of the Jezreel Valley that easily flooded when the nearby Kishon River overran its bounds in a rainstorm" (Olson, p. 120).

The Kishon River

So the battle was fought "from heaven" by way of a thunderstorm and flash flood.  The mighty instruments of death, the chariots, were stuck in the mud, their unshod horses breaking their hooves, and leaving the soldiers stationery and vulnerable.  The ancient historian Josephus adds that a fierce wind accompanied the storm, which blew into the faces of the Canaanites, but at the backs of the Israelites, furthering Barak's advantage" (Antiquities, 5.5.4, quoted in Olson).

Sisera himself fled the battle, and sought asylum at the camp of Heber the Kenite, where Heber's wife, Jael, agreed to hide the captain of the Canaanite host, and then easily killed him with a tent peg (they were about 3 feet long) as he slept.

The messages of the story are clear: 
1) When God has commanded us, it does not matter that the odds are stacked against us: our battle will be fought from heaven.
2) If we fear our challenges and lack faith that the Lord will magnify our abilities to meet them, we may lose opportunities for honor and success.
3) Sometimes the most unlikely people can do the most earth-shattering things. Neither Deborah nor Jael had any military training or responsibility, yet they secured the heroic victory.

A LATTER-DAY BATTLE FOUGHT "FROM HEAVEN"

For an interesting parallel in Latter-day Saint history, refer to the incident at Fishing River, in History of the Church Vol. 2, pp. 103-105.  As Zion's Camp arrived at Fishing River, just outside of Jackson County, Missouri, on June 19, 1834, a fierce storm arose.  Joseph Smith prophecied, "God is in this storm."  As they set up camp for the night, an angry mob of 200-300, fully equipped to attack them was gathering on the other side of Fishing River.  As the fury of the storm hit, "the earth trembled and quaked, the rain fell in torrents, and united, it seemed as if the mandate of vengeance had gone forth from the God of battles, to protect His servants from the destruction of their enemies, for the hail fell on them and not on us, and we suffered no harm, except the blowing down of some of our tents, and getting wet; while our enemies had holes made in their hats, and otherwise received damage, even the breaking of their rifle stocks, and the fleeing of their horses through fear and pain.

"Many of [our] little band sheltered in an old meetinghouse through this night, and in the morning the water in Big Fishing river was about forty feet deep, where, the previous evening, it was no more than to our ankles, and our enemies swore that the water rose thirty feet in thirty minutes in the Little Fishing river."  After enduring a fearsome night of injury and loss of property and witnessing one of their number being killed by lightning, the attacking party disbanded, declaring that "if that was the way God fought for the Mormons, they might as well go about their business."  

(A slide show of photographs of the Fishing River area with a brief narrative can be viewed at JosephSmith.net.)

------------------------------------------------------

(The best information and analysis of the story of Samson that I can find is in the LDS Institute Old Testament Manual.)

Old Testament Lesson #18 "Be Strong and of a Good Courage"

(Joshua 1-6; 23-24)

A HAPPY ENDING FOR JOSHUA & THE ISRAELITES

Joshua was one of the two faithful, courageous spies who gave a good report of the land of Canaan (Num. 14:6-10).  He was full of the spirit of wisdom, and led the Israelites after Moses was gone (Deut. 34:9).  The Lord told him three times to "be strong and of a good courage" and the people also repeated that counsel to him, which he definitely followed (Josh. 1:6,7,9,18).

Joshua followed the ark of the covenant to cross the Jordan River on dry ground, showing the children of Israel that he was clearly the worthy successor to Moses (Josh. 3:7-13).  He erected a monument to keep the miracle of the crossing in the memory of the people (Josh. 4:5-7).  The Lord sent an angelic military captain to show Joshua that great heavenly aid was on his side (Josh. 5:13-15). 

Joshua took the city of Jericho in a miraculous manner, as commanded by the Lord:  The army marched in a circle around the city, followed by seven priests blowing seven trumpets, followed by the ark of the covenant, followed by a rear guard.  They did this for seven days, and on the seventh day, they did it seven times (the meaning of the number seven in Hebrew is "perfection, completion"), and the host of Israel shouted and the walls of the city fell flat, so that the Israelites could easily conquer (Josh. 6-7). 

After the many battles were won to conquer the land of Canaan, after peace was established among the Israelite nation, and when his own life was nearly over, Joshua counseled the Israelites once again to "be very courageous" in keeping the commandments (Josh. 23:6).  He testified to them that God had kept all his promises (Josh. 23:14).  He counseled them to "choose ye this day" to serve the Lord (Josh. 24:15).

Joshua's taking of the city of Jericho is listed in Hebrews 11 as one of seventeen all-time great acts of faith (verse 30).  Among those great examples of faith, there are only two women listed.  Not surprisingly, the great matriarch Sara is one of them, but the other is a shocker: the Canaanite prostitute Rahab!  "By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she received the spies with peace" (Heb. 11:31).

A HAPPY ENDING FOR RAHAB

Rahab was truly a remarkable example of faith, if an unusual one.  Rahab was living in the city of Jericho among idolators.  With no gospel training, no missionaries, no "members" living nearby, and in the most wicked environment in the world, she gained a testimony of Jehovah.  She bore it to the Israelite spies who lodged at her abode: "For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath" (Josh. 2:11).  She hid the spies, and lied in their behalf, risking her life for that testimony (Josh. 2:2-7).  She had greater faith than do many active Latter-day Saints today, because as she trusted the Israelites and believed that they would physically save her, she also must have trusted Jehovah and believed that He would spiritually save her, despite her history of prostitution.  She raised her son (or grandson), Boaz, to be a great, kind, wise, and faithful man, the man who married Ruth! (See Matt. 1:5, which lists them by their Greek names, Rachab and Booz. Some scholars argue that this is not the same woman, but I personally agree with the ones who believe they are the same. An interesting article on the "telescoping" of genealogies in Matthew is found link.) Jesus Christ Himself was a direct descendant of Rahab and she is expressly mentioned in His genealogy (Matt. 1:5).

Both Joshua and Rahab were carried by their faith through extremely challenging, even life-threatening difficulties, to a happy ending (Josh. 6:25; 23:1).  We can reflect about times that our faith has carried us through hard times.  Sometimes we enjoy a happy ending in earth life; sometimes we have to wait until later for our happy ending.

EARTHLY RESULTS OF FAITH

Hebrews 11:33-38 lists the results of faith in the lives of many of the saints through the ages.  By faith, they:

• Subdued kingdoms (Joshua)
• Wrought righteousness (Joshua)
• Obtained promises (Joshua)
• Stopped the mouths of lions (Daniel)
• Quenched the violence of fire (all these first five apply to Melchizedek, see JST Gen. 14)
• Escaped the edge of the sword (Rahab & Joshua)
• Waxed valiant in fight (Joshua)
• Turned to flight the armies of aliens (Joshua)
• When dead, were raised to life again (Lazarus)

Happy endings, all!  Hooray!  Faith always pays off!

BUT, read the rest of the passage...

By faith, others were:

• Tortured, not accepting deliverance (Paul, see Acts 21:13,30-34)
• Tried with cruel mockings and scourgings (Peter & John, see Acts 4)
• In bonds and imprisonment (Peter & Paul, see Acts 12)
• Stoned (Stephen, see Acts 7; Jeremiah, see Bible Dictionary)
• Sawn asunder (Isaiah, see Bible Dictionary)
• Tempted (Christ Himself, see JST Matt. 4:1)
• Slain with the sword (James, see Acts 12:2)
• Wandered about in skins (John the Baptist, see Matt. 3)
• Destitute, afflicted, tormented (all the remaining apostles of Jesus Christ)
• Wandered in deserts & mountains, in dens & caves (Elijah, see 1 Kings 19)

Sometimes faith does not lead to a happy earthly ending, but to more trials of faith!  Why this disparity?  Is God unfair?  Does He not care?

TWO EXODUSES

In the JST Appendix, we find a large passage added to Genesis 50 in which Joseph of Egypt prophecies that two of his descendants will each do a great work to save the people:  Moses, and Joseph Smith (JST Gen. 50:24-29 for Moses; 50:30-33 for Joseph Smith).  Both these great leaders endured great trials as they tried to prepare their people for a holier existence.  The followers of both great prophets had to leave their homes in search of a promised land.  If we compare the Exodus in the Old Testament with the Exodus of the Latter-day Saints, we learn some interesting things:

Moses gave the Israelites the Law, and tried to lead them to the Promised Land of Canaan, but was taken into heaven before they achieved it.  The Lord showed the children of Israel that Joshua was Moses' successor by parting the Jordan River for them to cross, as He had parted the Red Sea for Moses (Josh. 3:7,13).  Joshua succeeded in the enormous task of claiming the Promised Land and establishing peaceful residency there (Josh. 23).
Joseph Smith tried in vain to establish Zion in Missouri.  He died, not seeing Zion, but Brigham Young successfully led the saints to the Salt Lake Valley, which they claimed as a Promised Land, and where they enjoyed relative peace.  Brigham Young, like Joshua, was shown to be the clear successor to Joseph Smith when Joseph Smith's likeness came upon him in the eyes of the people as he spoke to them.

The children of Israel left Egypt with great riches, the payment for their slavery (Exo. 12:36).
The Latter-day Saints were destitute when they were forced to leave Nauvoo.  They left all that they had worked for behind--their homes, their gardens, their beautiful possessions--and were severely limited in what necessities of life they were able to pack into a covered wagon or handcart.

The Israelites were fed manna from heaven every day for forty years until they arrived in Canaan (Josh. 5:12).
The pioneers' food was rationed and limited.  They all hungered; some starved.

The Israelites' clothing didn't wear out, and their feet didn't swell during their journey (Deut. 8:4).  They never experienced extreme cold.
The pioneers walked across the plains with worn-out shoes, some with feet wrapped in rags, leaving bloody footprints in the snow.  Some lost limbs because of the cold.  Some froze to death.

The children of Israel were led into a fertile, cultivated, developed farmland (Josh. 24:13).
The early saints were led into a dry and barren desert, and had to be extremely hard-working and clever to make the desert bloom so they could survive.

The Israelites crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River on dry ground (Josh. 3:17).
The pioneers forded icy rivers with bare feet, while ill and starving, some carrying others on their backs.

The children of Israel continually begged to go back to Egypt (Acts 7:39).
The Latter-day Saints continually begged to go on to Zion, flocking to the pioneer wagon trains from all over the eastern United States, Canada, and Europe, many of them so overanxious that they started the trip under-prepared.

IF IT SEEM EVIL UNTO YOU...

Joshua said to his people when he neared his death, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:15).  We never read that first half-sentence, but we can see from the comparison above that there are times when maybe it does seem "evil" or at least fruitless to serve the Lord.  Paul, however, one of those on the Hebrews 11 list who received a lot of evil for his faith, testified, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58).  How could he say that, after all he suffered?

If we finish the comparison between the Israelites with their "happy ending" and the pioneers with their continual trials, we can learn a very important lesson in the end result:

The children of Israel quickly lost their testimonies and reverted to evil (Judges 2).
The early Latter-day Saints stayed faithful for generations, a large percentage even until the present day, and the Church continues to grow exponentially upon that foundation of faithfulness amid trial.

As is said of the faithful listed in Hebrews 11, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise [in this life]: God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect" (JST Heb. 11:39-40).  The message:  Regardless of the temporal outcome, our faith can sanctify us.  If we suffer greatly for our faith, we will be rewarded greatly.  If we receive not the promise in earth life, we will receive greater promises in the next life.  The trials perfect us.  James, the brother of the Lord advised, "Count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations [Harper-Collins Study Bible translates temptations as "trials of any kind"]; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:2-4).

"And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Heb. 6:11 -12).

Old Testament Lesson #17 "Beware Lest Thou Forget"

(Deuteronomy 6; 8; 11; 32)

THE FORTY-YEAR JOURNEY

There is tremendous significance in the little parenthetical statement that opens the Book of Deuteronomy:  "There are 11 days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea" (Deut. 1:2).  It took the children of Israel 40 years to make an 11-day journey (Kerry Muhlestein, p. 89).  Obviously the physical arrival in the promised land was not the object of the journey.  There was a more important object that took 40 years to accomplish:  learning to be free through obedience and trust in the Lord.  By being placed in a hostile desert environment, they were forced to learn to rely on the Lord, as He was their only means of survival.  By the time they were ready to enter the Promised Land, had they finally learned that?  Yes!  What a relief!  Now there was no reason to worry about them anymore, right?  Wrong.

What are some of the things you have learned in your journey of life?

Can you name the nations of Africa?
Can you tell the date of the Louisiana Purchase?
Can you recite the Periodic Table of Elements?
Can you say which musical key has five sharps?
Can you write down the Pythagorean theorem?
Can you recite the names of all 50 United States?
Can you remember when the Battle of Trenton occured?
Can you tell the date that the Declaration of Independence was signed?
(Outside the U.S., substitute your own historical dates.)

As you can see, the greater part of learning is remembering.  Those things you have "learned" but not continued to use become forgotten.  Those things you repeat frequently, you retain.

THE CALL TO REMEMBER

At the point of entry into the promised land, the problem was no longer whether the children of Israel had learned obedience and trust in the Lord.  Now the concern was whether they would retain that understanding.  This is where Deuteronomy comes in, the last words of Moses to the children of Israel before they entered the promised land.  Leviticus was information for the priests, Numbers was for the Levites, and Deuteronomy was for the people, to help them remember what they had learned (Philip A. Allred, p. 55).  "Lest when thou has eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" (Deut. 8:12-14).

Most people over the age of ten can remember their address with no difficulty.  Why?  Because they have employed many mnemonic (memory) devices to remember it:  They write it over and over, they hear it over and over, they see it written over and over, they say it over and over.  The most important component of all effective mnemonic methods is repetition.  Remembering one's own address is easy because the repetition is constant, daily.

Deuteronomy means "repetition of the law" (Allred, p. 56).  It is a constitutional covenant for the Israelites to live by, and as a matter of fact, United States citizens today live by it, too:  Our Constitution is based on Deuteronomy, as is our criminal law, our tort law, and our civil law (Timothy W. Durkin, p. 84-86).  It was vital for the children of Israel to remember this law, and the Lord who gave it, in order to retain the Lord's protection.  As Moses said, "It is not a vain thing for you..it is your life" (Deut. 32:47).

MNEMONIC DEVICES OF DEUTERONOMY

Moses used many memory devices, each a brick in the wall of a spiritual fortress for the Israelites, each of which incorporated the all-important factor of repetition.  (Allred lists more than I do here, including types and symbols, the Sabbath, significant years, circumcision, religious attire, and culture.)

Feasts and Festivals
First of all, why can few people remember the date of the Louisiana Purchase, but almost all Americans remember the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence?  Because it's a national holiday!  We wave the flag, we have picnics, we watch fireworks, we listen to patriotic speeches and music.  From our childhood we are taught about the Fourth of July through all of our senses, repetitiously.  The children of Israel likewise remembered the Lord through their feasts and festivals, as outlined in Deuteronomy 16. They were a major part of the lifestyle of the Israelites.  These feasts and festivals are also found carrying over into the traditions of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon.  Author Jacob Neusner says these "shape life into rhythms of sanctification" (Allred, p. 64).  We have our own feasts and festivals.  All of our national holidays are designed to help us remember something and they can work very well.  Sometimes, however, we go beyond the mark, just as the Jews did with the Law of Moses, and let the celebration become much more important than the object of the celebration.  We need to be careful that we don't become spiritually shallow in the culture in which we live; for example, we need to keep Christ as the obvious focus of our Christmas and Easter celebrations, our fallen patriots as the focus of our Memorial Day observances, and gratitude for blessings as the focus of our Thanksgiving feast.

Songs
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them...Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel...Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel" (Deut. 31:16, 19, 22).  Chapter 32  is called "The Song of Moses."  It was literally a song, designed to remind the Israelites of the Lord and His greatness, and warn them of their propensity to forget him every time they sang it. 

One of the phrases introduced in this song is still widely used in the English language today.  "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deut. 32:10).  We, of course, also use songs to teach and remember important things: national songs, religious songs, educational songs.  I can name the 50 states in alphabetical order perfectly any time, any day, because my elementary school teacher taught us a song about them.  Memorizing hymns and Primary songs can help us remember gospel concepts, and bring us closer to God quickly when troubles arise.

Poems and Stories
The Hebrews had an incredibly rich language, which doesn't bring all of its meaning with it when it is translated.  One of their most beautiful literary techniques is chiasmus, a form of poetry in which all the lines of the poem lead to the main point, after which they all repeat in reverse order with slight variation.  In chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, Moses applies this mnemonic device, re-telling the whole story of the Exodus and the Lord's role in it, in a chiastic poem (Allred, p. 57-58).  In this poem, the most important point is found in verse 11: "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statues, which I command thee this day."

The outline of this chiastic poem is as follows:
A. Obedience ensures life (8:1)
     B. Wandering in the desert (8:2-6)
          C. Richness of the promised land (8:7-10)
               D. Do not forget the Lord (8:11)
          C. Richness of the promised land (8:12-13)
     B. Wandering in the desert (8:14-16)
A. Apostasy ensures destruction (8:19-2).

We apply poetry to help us remember things:  "I before E except after C" helps us spell, "right-tighty, lefty-loosy" helps us know which way to screw on the garden hose or the jelly lid.  We would be wise to memorize poems that teach a message, as our prophet President Monson has done, so that we can repeat them at will when the occasion for teaching or remembering arises.

Stories also make great tools for remembering lessons learned.  "And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?  Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us" (Deut. 6:20-25).  Chapter 8 of Deuteronomy tells the story of the wanderings of the children of Israel, and the blessings of the Lord to them.

Repeating stories of our ancestors, our scripture heroes, our church leaders, and most of all, ourselves, at our family nights and family reunions can help our families remember miracles and seek the Lord's help in their own lives.  President Eyring has counseled us to record the hand of of the Lord in our lives in a journal (Henry B. Eyring, "O Remember, Remember," Ensign, Nov. 2007).

Prayers
Chapter 6 of Deuteronomy contains the first part of the Shema, a twice-daily ritualistic prayer.  The word shema means "hear." 

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deut. 6:4-5).  This is the great, all-encompassing commandment, according to Christ: to "love the Lord thy God."  To the Israelites, the heart was the seat of wisdom, intellect, feelings, emotions, and intentions (Blair G. Van Dyke, p. 37; Allred, p. 49).  In our terms it would equal the heart and head both.  These verses, then, are talking about a conscious effort to be loyal, an intentional obedience. The "soul" refers to life itself.  To love with all the soul meant with enough devotion to die for the other person, to love with your entire existence.  To love with all your might indicated a military meaning, a willingness to join forces to aid the other and to fight on their side (Amy Blake Hardison, p. 25). 

We might reflect the same diligence to prayer by praying twice daily as a family, praying at mealtimes, offering personal prayers throughout the day, and married couple prayers at bedtime.  We can strive to love the Lord with our whole being, as did the Israelites.

Visual Reminders
This is only the first bit of the Shema.  The entire thing is Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21: and Numbers 15:37-41, in that order (Stephen and Shirley Ricks, "Jewish Education in the Meridian of Time," Ensign, October 1987).  "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:8-9).  Binding them upon the hard or arm would remind them to make their actions and dealings consistent with the Law.  Putting them on the forehead between the eyes would make their vision and their thoughts consistent with the Law.  Putting them on the doorposts would remind them to carry the Law with them out into the community.  Whether Jehovah really meant for them to literally put the scriptures in little boxes on their foreheads and arms and the doorposts of their houses, or whether it was just figurative is debatable (Van Dyke, p. 49), but the symbolism is beautiful.  The phylacteries and the mezuzot evolved from this directive.

We use phylacteries of a sort:  We wear things that remind us of our covenants:  temple garments, CTR rings.  We can also use a form of mezuzots:  The Proclamation on the Family, pictures of Christ and the temples, plaques that say, "Return with Honor," "I Am a Child of God," or "Remember Who You Are."

Deuteronomy also authorized the establishment of a national monument (Deut. 27:2-3). To put up a monument is a worthwhile thing to do. It's another way of reminding people of important things. In the United States, we have the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, etc.  We also have religious monuments scattered throughout the world wherever the saints have been:  monuments to pioneers, statues of Christ, memorials of great saints, historical markers.  When we see one of these, we are curious about its meaning, and we learn about it, photograph it, remember it.

CONCLUSION

The Lord wanted the children of Israel to be peculiar, meaning "set apart from the world" (Allred, p. 68), a "purchased personal treasure" (Van Dyke, p. 39).  As long as they remembered him, and kept themselves unstained from the world, He fought their battles, watered their land, guarded their prosperity, and protected them from their enemies.  Each time they faithfully exercised these little mnemonic devices, they added a brick to the wall of their fortress from the world.  When they stopped doing this, they lost their defense.

We are told to live "in the world, but not of the world."  Like the Israelites, we also must work to remember the Lord our God and what He has done for us.  It takes constant effort to create "rhythms of sanctification," but as Moses said, "It is not a vain thing for you.. it is your life" (Deut. 32:47).  Any enhancements we make to our environment and our routine that help us to remember our spiritual heritage add to the fortress of strength that we need to survive in these wicked days, and qualify us for the protection and guidance of the Lord.

Sources: 
Kerry Muhlestein, "Believing in the Atoning Power of Christ," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 89-99.

Philip A. Allred, "Moses' Charge to Remember," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 55-70.

Timothy W. Durkin, "Deuteronomy as a Constitutional Covenant," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 74-86.

Blair G. Van Dyke, "Profiles of a Covenant People," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 35-52.

Amy Blake Hardison, "Being a Covenant People," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 19-32.