The Eternal Father

In the sacrament prayers (Moroni 4 - 5) God is referred to as God, the Eternal Father. Each title that our Heavenly Father bears carries meaning. This evening as I was studying I started thinking about the word "eternal" and what it means. Here is Webster's 1828 dictionary definition of "eternal":

ETER'NAL, a. [L. oeternus, composed of oevum and ternus, oeviternus, Varro. The origin of the last component part of the word is not obvious. It occurs in diuturnus, and seems to denote continuance.]

1. Without beginning or end of existence.
The eternal God is thy refuge. Deu 33.

2. Without beginning of existence.
To know whether there is any real being, whose duration has been eternal.

3. Without end of existence or duration; everlasting; endless; immortal.
That they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 2 Tim 2. What shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Mat 19.
Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7.

4. Perpetual; ceaseless; continued without intermission.
And fires eternal in thy temple shine.

5. Unchangeable; existing at all times without change; as eternal truth.

We know, however, that when the scriptures use the word "eternal" it is not strictly used in describing time. The Lord explained this a little in section 19 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

It seems as though that "eternal" as used in the scriptures also describes creation as explained by Elder Bruce R. McConkie on page 166 of the Promised Messiah:

When our revelations say of Christ, "From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail" (D&C 76:4), they mean that from one preexistence to the next he does not vary, his course is one eternal round.

Often times the English words that we use to describe spiritual things have down to us through various translations of the Bible. The word "eternal" appears about thirty five times in the Bible. The word "eternity" appears only once.

More than one Hebrew or Greek word has been translated into the word "eternal". Here are some examples:

קדם - keh'-dem
עולם - o-lawm
αιωνιος - ahee-o'-nee-os
αιδιος - ah-id'-ee-os

It is interesting to look at the definitions of these words to gain some insight into what the authors were trying to communicate. Here are the definitions of these words (along with another Greek word that was translated into the word "eternal") from Strong's concordance:

H6924
קדמה קדם
qedem qêdmâh
keh'-dem, kayd'-maw
From H6923; the front, of palce (absolutely the fore part, relatively the East) or time (antiquity); often used adverbially (before, anciently, eastward): - aforetime, ancient (time), before, east (end, part, side, -ward), eternal, X ever (-lasting), forward, old, past. Compare H6926.

H5769
עלם עולם
‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm
o-lawm', o-lawm'
From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally time out of mind (past or future), that is, (practically) eternity; frequentative adverbially (especially with prepositional prefix) always: - always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end). Compare H5331, H5703.

G166
αιωνιος
aiōnios
ahee-o'-nee-os
From G165; perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well): - eternal, for ever, everlasting, world (began).

G165
αιων
aiōn
ahee-ohn'
From the same as G104; properly an age; by extension perpetuity (also past); by implication the world; specifically (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future): - age, course, eternal, (for) ever (-more), [n-]ever, (beginning of the, while the) world (began, without end). Compare G5550.

G126
αιδιος
aidios
ah-id'-ee-os
From G104; everduring (forward and backward, or foward only): - eternal, everlasting.

Are You Jewish?

Nibley’s ‘One Eternal Round’ Magnum Opus Published - TempleStudy.com

Nibley’s ‘One Eternal Round’ Magnum Opus Published » Temple Study – LDS Temples, Mormon Temples, Study Blog

Posted using ShareThis

Ether 13:8

This morning I was studying Ether 13:8 which reads:

"Wherefore, the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when the earth shall pass away."

I looked up the definition of the word "confound" in Webster's 1828 dictionary and was really fascinated by the definitions it gave. Here is what it says:

Webster's 1828 Dictionary:

CONFOUND, v.t. [L., to pour out. Literally, to pour or throw together.]

1. To mingle and blend different things, so that their forms or natures cannot be distinguished; to mix in a mass or crowd, so that individuals cannot be distinguished.

2. To throw into disorder.

Let us go down, and there confound their language. Gen 11.

3. To mix or blend, so as to occasion a mistake of one thing for another.

A fluid body and a wetting liquor, because they agree in many things, are wont to be confounded.

Men may confound ideas with words.

4. To perplex; to disturb the apprehension by indistinctness of ideas or words.

Men may confound each other by unintelligible terms or wrong application of words.

5. To abash; to throw the mind into disorder; to cast down; to make ashamed.

Be thou confounde and ber thy shame. Ezek 16.

Saul confounded the Jews at Damascus. Acts 9.

6. To perplex with terror; to terrify; to dismay; to astonish; to throw into consternation; to stupify with amazement.

So spake the Son of God; and Satan stood a while as mute confounded what to say.

The multitude came together and were confounded. Acts 2.

7. To destroy; to overthrow.

So deep a malice to confound the race of mankind in one root.

The house of Joseph was confounded many times throughout it's history, most notably when the Northern Kingdom of Israel (of which the Josephite tribes were a part) was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BC. The Assyrians followed a policy of forced deportations in which people of one location were deported to another and mixed with the native population. This was done to make the conquered people lose their identity and cohesiveness. This is exactly what happened to the northern Ten Tribes of Israel and that is why they are "lost".

Reading the definition of the word "confound" in Webster's 1828 in light of this knowledge illustrates why the Lord inspired Joseph Smith to select that particular word for this verse.

Genesis 3:15

On Saturday my wife and I were in the temple for our stake temple day and we were talking with another couple in our ward about the scripture in Genesis 3:15 which reads:

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (KJV)

This verse is almost universally understood among Christendom to refer to Jesus Christ. The woman the Lord is speaking of here is Mary the mother of Jesus and her seed is Jesus Christ.

Figuratively, the Savior's heel was bruised when he was subjected to the full fury of Satan during his passion. As with the wounds Jesus suffered during his atoning sacrifice a bruised heel can be very painful but it is not fatal and generally heals completely. A bruise to the head on the other hand is much more serious and is very often fatal.

Figuratively, Satan's head was bruised on the morning of Christ's resurrection. With the completion of the Atonement Satan's power was forever broken and he no longer had any chance of victory.

The translators of the King James Version of the Bible often chose phrases that are difficult to understand to modern readers. In the temple we discussed what the Lord meant when he said that he would place "enmity" between Satan and Jesus Christ. I've been thinking about this since Saturday and this evening I have had the chance to study the verse a little. The Hebrew word that was translated into English as "enmity" is איבה ('êybâh). Strong's Hebrew Dictionary says this word can be translated as: "hostility: - enmity, hatred."

Reading that didn't shed much light on the meaning for me so I looked at some other translations of the Bible and I came across a rendering of Gen. 3:15 in the Bible in Basic English. In that version the verse reads:

"And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded."

I'm not sure if this version of the verse is the most accurate or whether this translation misses some of the original meaning but it is more readable and makes more sense to modern ears.

Abraham

This is a short clip from the film "Faith of an Observer". Hugh Nibley tells the story from the Midrash of when Abraham was promised his son Isaac.

Hezekiah

This is a video I put together about King Hezekiah of Judah and the Assyrian invasion of 701 BC. I hope you enjoy it.

Roman Era Home Found in Nazareth

The New York Times
By REUTERS
Published: December 21, 2009
Filed at 8:48 a.m. ET

NAZARETH, Israel (Reuters) - Remains of a house from the time of Jesus have been found in Nazareth -- the first discovery of its kind in the place where he grew up, Israel's Antiquities Authority said on Monday.

Archaeologists did not draw any direct link between the Nazareth dwelling and Jesus. His mother Mary's childhood home, many Christian faithful believe, was a cave over which Nazareth's imposing Church of the Annunciation now stands.

Yardenna Alexandre, who directed a dig near the church, said it exposed the walls of a first-century house that consisted of two rooms and a courtyard.

"The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth," Alexandre said in a statement issued by the Antiquities Authority.

"The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period," she said.

"Until now, a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth, however no settlement remains had been discovered that were attributed to this period."

Alexandre described Nazareth, now Israel's largest Arab city with a population of some 65,000, as a "small hamlet" during Jesus's time.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

O Come O Come Emmanuel

This is a short video I put together in celebration of Christmas. I hope you enjoy it.

"And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.

"And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos,"

1 Nephi 19:9-10

Happy Hanukkah!

Exactly ten years ago I was in Jerusalem celebrating Hanukkah in the very spot where the events celebrated occured.

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

To learn more about Hanukkah go here and here.