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Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

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Time and Eternity: An Egyptian Dualism

June 25, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 4 Comments

King Tut's Burial Chamber - Osiris embracing Tutankhamun, "Giving all life for time and eternity." The ankh, neheh, and djet symbols are highlighted in yellow.As I was researching for the posts on the ankh, I came across some information which was interesting, describing the Egyptian concept of “time” and “eternity.” These concepts almost seem repetitive and redundant to our modern way of thinking, but to the Egyptians each of these terms represented something concrete and distinct, and both were invoked in certain rituals, texts, and illustrations.  It is clear that the Egyptians considered these two ideas as unique, but they often used them together, and so it seems difficult for our present Egyptologists to distinguish or disambiguate what the Egyptians meant by them individually.  There has been plenty of speculation.

The two symbols used for the commonly translated “time” and “eternity” are neheh (nhh) and djet (dt), respectively, and looked something like this:

from Kemet.org Daily Devotions (http://daily.kemet.org/archives/archive-052003.html)

Jan Assmann described the difficulty of pinning down an understanding of these hieroglyphics:  [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts, Scholarship, Texts Tagged: abraham, ancients, book of the dead, djet, egyptian, endowment, eternal, eternity, hieroglyph, hugh nibley, initiate, joseph smith, life, model, neheh, ordinances, symbols, time, translation, tutankhamun

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” – Part 3

June 23, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 1 Comment

(Continued from Part 2)

The ankh symbol appears frequently with several other hieroglyphics in certain formulas and invocations that immediately call our attention.  These are wedja, seneb, djed, & was.

This table summarizes the different possible explanations for these hieroglyphics that I have been able to find:  [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts, Scholarship, Texts Tagged: ankh, bible, coronation, egyptian, embrace, endowment, hieroglyph, hugh nibley, initiate, life, priesthood, rituals, rosetta stone, royal, symbols, translation

Consecrate = “A Filled Hand” in Hebrew

June 13, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 16 Comments

The High Priest in the Holy of Holies - Incense offering on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).  Temple Institute.One of our readers, Dr. Kathy Larsen, pointed out a scripture yesterday that intrigued me. It is Leviticus 21:10:

And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;

There is a footnote on the second instance of the word “that” in our LDS King James Version. The footnote reads “HEB (literally) whose hand is filled; i.e. who is equipped, or authorized.” This means that the original Hebrew would have read something like, “and whose hand is filled to put on the garments.” Apparently the word translated as “consecrated” came from a Hebrew phrase for “a filled hand” or “a full hand.”

I did a little bit of digging into this, and found some more interesting things related to this. [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts, Practices, Texts Tagged: altar, altar of incense, atonement, bible, consecration, cupped hand, egyptian, filled hand, hebrew, hieroglyph, holy place, hugh nibley, incense, kaph, male, moses, offerings, sacrifice, service, symbols, tabernacle, translation, yad, yod

Enoch’s Anointing & Investiture during Ascension in 2 Enoch

June 4, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 8 Comments

God took Enoch -  Illustrated by Gerard Hoet (1648-1733)While there is undoubtedly an abundance of temple allusions in the whole of Enoch apocryphal literature, I came across a good example today. I will certainly add more as I learn about them.

This example is from 2 Enoch. This apocrypha text is a pseudepigraphon, meaning its authorship is unknown, but is considered part of ancient Jewish literature. The oldest extant manuscripts of this text are in the Slavonic language, but was probably translated from Greek. The text probably was originally written sometime during the Second Temple period (Herod’s temple), between 516 BC and 70 AD. You can read an English translation of the text at Pseudepigrapha.com (which is an LDS site).

This text is unique in its depiction of Enoch, as Wikipedia notes:

For the first time, the Enochic tradition seeks to show Enoch, not simply as a human taken to heaven and transformed into an angel, but as a celestial being exalted above the angelic world.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Texts Tagged: anointing, ascension, celestial, cherubim, enoch, exaltation, garments, glory, greek, heaven, imagery, light, literature, new name, pseudepigrapha, revelation, round dance, throne, translation

Non-Temple-Goers as Swine and Dogs?

May 20, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 28 Comments

Fifteenth century woodcut from Rouen Cathedral

I posted my thoughts a couple days ago as “Approaching the Temple” on the Mormon Apologetics & Discussion Board (MADB), which concerned what is appropriate to discuss and talk about with temple subjects, and what is not, and how we might find that voice. A reader responded:

You said, “The temple ceremonies and ordinances are sacred and secret. There is a level of secrecy connected with anything that is sacred … Christ once taught, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you (Matt. 7:6)”.

Why would temple-going Latter-day Saints view non-temple-going Latter-day Saints as swine and dogs?

This is how I responded: [Read more…]

Posted in: Temples Today, Texts Tagged: cast, church, discussion, dogs, pearls, sacred, secret, swine, talk, translation
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