Lesson #15 - "Look to God and Live"

For Judaism, "looking to God" and "revelation" are almost figurative and in modern times have become unexplainable.

"Revelation, the act by which the hidden, unknown God shows himself to man. There is no specific term corresponding to "revelation" in the Bible or in rabbinic Hebrew. God is said to "appear" to the patriarchs and prophets, and the appearances are described by a series of anthropomorphic (i.e., human) expressions and concrete images. Sometimes God manifests Himself "in a vision" or "in a dream" or he appears through the mediation of an angel. however, the Bible emphasizes that no direct, sensory perception of God is possible. Thus, various phrases are used when describing appearances of the Divine, for example kavod ("glory") or shekhinah (. . . "Divine Presence") or davar ("word" of God)."

"Any event in which the Divine presence is felt is called a revelation, but the term is applied more particularly to communications of the Divine will as revealed through God's messengers, the prophets. The Bible itself, and later the rabbis, discerned among the prophets a hierarchy of form and degree, with that of Moses as supreme and unique. At Sinai, the principal revelation of God to man took place. At that time, all the assembled "heard" the Voice of God, and through the mediation of Moses (who, according to the rabbis, functioned there as a scribe), received the complete text of the Torah and its interpretation, the Oral Law." Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.

When Moses sent the spies into the land of Canaan, two came back with a good report and evidence of a fruitful land. They were Caleb, of the tribe of Judah and Joshua, of the tribe of Joseph. In Israel today, the Israeli government uses the symbol of Caleb and Joshua carrying a huge clump of grapes between them as the official seal of the Ministry of Tourism.

"TU BE-AV or the 15th day of the month of Av, was the date of a minor festival, observed only in the days of the Second Temple, which marked the beginning of the grape harvest in Erez Israel."

"In the Talmud, several additional reasons for the festivity of Tu be-Av are given. It was believed to be the day on which the Israelites in the desert ceased to die for the sins incurred following the return of the spies sent to spy out the land of Canaan . . ." Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.

It is significant that Caleb and Joshua who reflected faith in Moses prophecies and brought back the good report were the only original emigrants from Egypt that were allowed into the promised land. They maintained their faith throughout the wilderness journey. That journey introduced symbols (like the serpent) to maintain faith in the Lord.

"The Mishnah states that the copper serpent (nahash nehoshet in Hebrew) was not the power which cured the people. Rather it was when the people finally turned their eyes upward toward Heaven and listened to the will of God that they were cured. After the plague ended, the nahash nehoshet served as an ever-present reminder of the dangers and evils which could befall the people in the desert were it not for God's constant loving care."

"The people kept the copper serpent when they settled in Erez Israel and remembered its significance. However, when they began to look up to it instead of gazing beyond it to heaven, King Hezekiah had it destroyed so that it should not lead to idol worship."

"Seals employed from the beginning of historical time as the most common means of identifying property, appear both functionally and incidentally in various biblical stories, and many seals from biblical times have actually been uncovered by archaeologists. "

"Jewish seals were distinguished from others by their inscriptions in Hebrew and the absence of the human figure."

"Sometimes seals . . . bore emblems with . . . a serpent on it, since the Hebrew word for snake was numerically equivalent to the word for Messiah." Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.

When the Brigham Young Jerusalem Center was completed, Apostles Howard W. Hunter and James E. Faust, who were the LDS General Authorities in charge of the project, related the miracles of its approval and construction. After a marvelous meeting recounting the solid approval of the Israeli Government and the failure of a small religious band to thwart the completion of the Jerusalem Center, Elder Faust hastened to say, "We take no credit for these miracles - we want to enter the "promised land".