Come Follow Me through the Hebrew Bible Week of 12/27 through 1/2

 In The Religion of Israel, Yehezkel Kaufmann argues that the monotheistic religion of ancient Israel was not simply the inevitable evolution of the polytheism of the ancient near east, but a religious revolution. It was a unique theological innovation, totally distinct and totally incompatible with polytheism. Polytheism as held by the ancients in Mesopotamia is characterized by the following among other features: 

  • A primordial metadivine realm, which is morally neutral 

  • Numerous gods which are born in some way from the metadivine realm

  • Competition between gods

  • Complex mythologies or stories about the lives, deaths, and resurrections of gods

  • Theogonies, detailing the birth of gods

  • Magic, including the ability of some humans to become gods by manipulating the inherent magic of the world

  • Sexual relationships between gods that form the basis of creation

  • Humans subservient to gods, sometimes created as slaves to do the work gods don’t want to do

  • Human children of gods


What was first transmitted through oral tradition and then documented and compiled by ancient Israelites into what we now know as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible was completely contrary to these polytheistic features. The God of the bible, Kaufmann argues, is all powerful, never limited by the constraints of a preceding metadivine realm, nor conceivably superseded by competing gods. While many of the stories of the Pentateuch draw upon elements of other ancient texts like the Enuma Elish and the Epic of Gligamesh, the Iraelite versions the ancient stories abandon the mythology, the theogonies, the sex, and the magic and turn instead to an omnipotent, single God, who, while completely separate in species from his creations, cares deeply for them, in fact serves them, rather than simply demanding their service. 


It is with these claims, that I learned about from a Yale lecture series on Youtube, in mind that I came to the texts of Moses 1 and Abraham 3 for this week’s Come Follow Me study. I actually didn’t intend to spend much time in the Pearl of Great Price this year, opting instead to focus harder than I ever had on the Hebrew Bible. I’ve even mapped out the entire Old Testament into a study schedule that matches the Come Follow Me Schedule, but doesn’t skip a single verse. I plan to study every word of the text, and supplement my study with books, articles, audio recordings, and videos that explore the Bible critically. But my wife inspired me to at least read through the PoGP chapters for this week so I could participate in Sunday School discussions. 


What stood out to me in this weeks’ church reading is the unique (as far as I know) religious innovations of Joseph Smith in the Pearl of Great Price (and elsewhere). Smith adds back the mythology, telling of a grand council in heaven, an interplanetary God, and a dramatic rebellion of a god-like Lucifer-turned-satan. He adds gods to a judeo-chrstian pantheon, who work together in the creation of the world. He positions humans as literal children of God who are co-eternal with God their father and have the capability to become like him. He even seems to add sex back to the story of God by centering heavenly parents in the divine Plan of Salvation. 


And reconciling (in part) the competing God-models of the ancient near east is, of course, not all of the religious innovations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reading Moses 1, I was struck by the following passage that seems to account for another ancient disagreement, this time within the pages of the Hebrew Bible itself: 


“And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence.”


It has long been scholarly consensus that when we are reading the Pentateuch, we are not reading the words of Moses, but of at least two (and most likely many more) writers. A priestly source (P) for some of the text likely dates to the 5th Century BCE, and rewrote many of the stories documented by earlier writers. The God of P is aloof, mystical, approachable only through the intermediary of trained priesthood. No man can see the face of the P God and live. The not-P God personally makes coats of skin for Adam and Eve. He speaks with prophets face-to-face. He is personal and direct with his created children. And if you don’t know about the P and not-P distinctions, you either have to come up with some explanation for the contradictions that appear to be in the same text, or you have to discredit what one part of scripture seems to be saying while amplifying the part of the text that fits your personal theology. 


The Book of Moses, in introducing the idea of transfiguration or temporary glorification offers an explanation for the contradictions in the Bible. Is something like the Book of Moses the shared source for both P and not-P? Is this just Joseph Smith coming up with an explanation for Biblical contradictions? Or is the truth somewhere in between? Maybe it’s an inspired explanation for a God that two different Israelite communities in different time periods understood very differently. 


I don’t know. 


In fact, there are a lot of things I don’t know about the Hebrew Bible. Much of what I’ve said in this post could be way off base. I welcome and invite correction and discussion. But I want to spend this year understanding the Old Testament in ways that I never have before, and I might share some of what I’m learning here. Feel free to come along! 


Some sources from this week’s study: 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANUD8IK12ms&t=1631s

Who Wrote the  Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman

The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible essays on Cultural Context and Introduction to the Pentateuch

Read the Bible this year in synch with Come Follow Me but with no skips: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MStvjfieg0dR0jpAySMiW-VS-K4Mp3AjiNJ_pFNMw0g/edit#gid=0

Study the Bible with me on Discord: https://discord.gg/yHqQRf5A

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