I remember reading this article by Daniel Peterson and making some notes about the Hebrew word "aliyah" in my scriptures for 1 Nephi chapter 5.
Article:
“After this there was a feast of the Jews,” reports John 5:1, “and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
That notion of “going up” to Jerusalem is much more interesting than it might at first appear. Indeed, it’s a very rich idea, and an ancient one.
Of course, it’s partly a matter of literal, physical climbing. The city of Jerusalem rests at approximately 2,500 feet above sea level on a relatively high mountain ridge; Nazareth sprawls between 1,000 and 1,500 feet lower, to the north. So Jesus would really have been climbing up to Jerusalem.
And so would virtually every other visitor to the city. The Mediterranean coast is 37 miles west of Jerusalem, and the even deeper Jordan River Valley and Dead Sea sit 22 miles to the east — forming a part of the overall Great Rift Valley that extends for 3,700 miles from Lebanon in the north down to Mozambique, in southeastern Africa.
Thus, when, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, “a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves” (Luke 10:30), he was really going down. At 1,200 feet below sea level, Jericho is fully 3,700 feet lower than Jerusalem, although it’s only about 17 miles away. And anybody who’s ever driven the road from Jericho to Jerusalem — in very low gear for buses and trucks — knows how steep the upward grade is.
The Book of Mormon, incidentally, gets things exactly right when — clever boy, that Joseph Smith! — Lehi and the members of his family continually go down from Jerusalem into the wilderness and then return up to Jerusalem when they're sent back (as at 1 Nephi 2:5; 3:9-29; 5:1; 7:2-5, 15, 22).
But it’s not merely geography: Jerusalem was the site of the temple of God, “the Mountain of the Lord’s House.”
In medieval and modern Arabic, Jerusalem is known as “al-Quds,” “the Holy One,” which refers not to streets, hotels, intersections, office buildings, gas stations and cafes, but to the temple. It’s a shortened form of the still earlier Arabic name “Bayt al-Maqdis” or “Bayt al-Muqqadas” (“the Holy House”), which, in turn, reflects the ancient Hebrew term “Bayt ha-Miqdash.”
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” asks the Psalmist, “or who shall stand in his holy place?” He then proceeds to cite some of the characteristics of those permitted to enter the temple (see Psalm 24:3-5; compare Psalm 15).
In fact, 15 of the biblical Psalms (120-134) bear the label “song of ascent” or, as the King James Version puts it, “song of degrees.” (They’ve also been called “songs of steps” and “pilgrim songs.”) Many scholars believe that these psalms were sung by worshippers walking up the road to Jerusalem for the three great pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Tabernacles and Pentecost, or by priests as they climbed 15 steps for their service in the temple — symbolically ascending to God. Some have suggested that they were composed for Solomon’s dedication of the temple.
Lingering traces of the notion of “ascending” to Jerusalem persist. Still today, for example, nearly 2,000 years after the Romans destroyed the temple, even secular Jews who immigrate to Israel are said to be "making ‘aliyah,’” where “aliyah” means “ascent.” (Think of the Israeli national airline, “El Al,” which means “to the skies” or “skyward.”)
And, for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are more than merely lingering traces. In modern temples, for instance, the initial ordinance of entry into God’s kingdom, baptism, is performed on a lower floor, “in a place underneath where the living are wont to assemble” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:13). Thereafter, worshippers typically climb ever higher in the temples as they receive the ordinances of the Lord’s house, symbolically approaching the presence of God.
Finally, too, the notion of temple-related ascent forms part of the prophesied future:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (see Isaiah 2:2-3; compare Micah 4:1-2).
(End of Article)
With the new year, I have started reading 1 Nephi again as he tells of his family's journeying. I have marked the word "down" and "up" in Nephi's narrative. When the travel was "down" it was going "down" to the wilderness. When it was "up" it was to Jerusalem where the temple stood. A wonderful scripture is from Psalms 24. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart...This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob."
Today as I read 1 Nephi chapter 5, I re-read the notes I had made some time ago from Daniel Peterson's article mentioning "the ascent" or "ascender (aliyah)". I looked up the root which is עָלָה alah. I was interested when I saw that from this root we find the word עֲלָה, which is a "burnt offering". This is probably due to the burnt offering going "up" in smoke.
So here, in 1 Nephi chapter 5, we find in verse one that they had journeyed "down" into the wilderness after having "ascended up" alah to Jerusalem, they then offered sacrifice and "burnt offerings" עֲלָה alah unto the Lord.
Next, I happened to notice the possible english word play on "descend". And after they had given offerings and thanks unto the God of Israel, Lehi took the records which retrieval was the purpose of their journey, and Lehi searched them.
Lehi found that he was a "descendant" of Jospeh. These records were of great worth to them and it was "wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us, as we journey in the wilderness towards the land of promise." (1 Nephi 5:22)
Nephi says that it is sufficient to say that [they] are "descendants" of Joseph.
I find it interesting that these chapters talk of going up, ascending, going down and descendants.
I love how Nephi concludes chapter six with the purpose of his testimony: "For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to "come" unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.
עָלָה alah can also mean "come". To come unto Christ we too must ascend to him. To truly come unto him and partake of all that he has we must ascend to his holy house. Although, I do not need to walk up to the Oquirrh Mountain temple as I attend each week, I notice the beautiful ascent that I make as I drive "up" and come nearer to Him . Is our small offering of going "up" a "burnt sacrifice" unto the Lord? I believe it is.
(public domain)
No comments:
Post a Comment