Joshua 24:1-4

Our class jumped to Joshua after we did some Deuteronomy, so I am picking up there. So I don't know, maybe I am one of the only ones who didn't really understand why Joshua took the tribes to Shechem. There is some significance to this, it isn't just for kicks and giggles. Shechem is where Abraham built his altar to the Lord. So this is essentially Joshua is taking the people back to the temple, after so many years in the wilderness. The more wicked generation that wouldn't accept the Gospel died off, and the people are now ready to accept the covenants of the temple.  An interesting side note here is the word for wilderness. It means the place of the word, meaning the word of G-d. This is where the children of Israel was learning, they were preparing, their hearts were being turned to the Lord and they in this verse are now ready to accept it. Also at the end of vs 1 its talking about them standing before the face of G-d. Which typically in an Old Testament setting, this means that they are in a temple like setting. Which goes along perfectly with them going to Shechem. So much in just one verse! Amazing!
Verse two is a little jumbled in translation. As they are going to Schechem Joshua is recounting the history to the people. In this verse he is saying that G-d spoke to their fathers as they dwelt on the others side of the river and that they worshiped other gods. This is doing two things, its saying that the hearts of their fathers were not ready, that is why they were in the wilderness. And its also building up some context as to where their fathers were, this will help for the next few verses.
In verse 3 the location comes into play. The children of Israel cross over the river. I asked myself, what does the river represent? Is it representative of Christ?  Go back to the context of a covenant being a cut that I talked about in Deuteronomy. A river is a cut in the land. This is symbolic of the people going through the cut before they were to enter into the higher covenants of the temple. Its also symbolic of baptism as they had to go down into the river to cross it. It is the action that is saying they are willing to change and to live up to higher covenants. So then I started thinking a little more on this whole idea of the symbolism of rivers. It lead me to 1 Nephi 8:13. In the vision a river also separates the tree of life from the world. The fruit of the tree is the knowledge of God and essentially it's also the knowledge gained in the temple. The covenant has to be cut, it has to be crossed, we have to make that effort to get to it. Then I started thinking about what personal rivers do we have in our lives? How does the effort of going to the temple effect or help us as we go through those rivers? And what do we gain as we go through them? Just something to think on.
A great thing happened and my art class was actually talking about Egyptian art the day that we did these verses and I went to both classes and was just kind of like WHAT?!?! That is so cool! So let me share this with you.

This is called one of the Egyptian Books of the Dead. It is a somewhat unrelated thing but I think it ties in. I'm sorry its so small, maybe you can Google it and see it up close a little better. This is like a great little Egyptian comic strip. It is read top to bottom and left to right. The strip across the top is a man who has recently died sitting at an altar before the gods who are holding what is called an ankh. The ankh is symbolic of eternal life. Now this whole thing is going to be much more interesting for those who have gone through the temple, if you haven't it is still pretty interesting though.  The first little picture where the man is dressed in white and led by the jackal headed god, Anubis. Anubis leads the man to the second picture, where he weighs the man's heart against the feather of truth. The results of this will determine if that strange crocodile, hippo, lion beast there will get to eat your heart and you are done. You don't progress past that. The bird headed god next to the scale is Thoth. Thoth is a scribe, he writes down the results of the judgement that is happening. If allowed to progress past that a third god presents the man before a curtain that the Egyptians referred to as a veil. Behind this veil are two figures. The one that is seated is the god who rules over all the other gods. The woman standing behind him is his wife. If front of these two gods there is a lotus blossom, which symbolizes eternal life as well. It is tied into a river that is under the first god which representative of the Nile. Bringing back the river that has to be crossed, the covenant that needs to be cut. (See I can tie this in. ha ha) Now look on top of the lotus blossom, there are four small figures that are representative of the four steps that the man just went through in order to get to the final two gods. The bird on the top of that section is representative of bringing the results of what has happened and showing them to the gods as the man is standing before the curtain. And if these results are that he was a good man and has been judged as such, he is then able to enter into the final block where he will remain throughout the afterlife. Very interesting no?

Deuteronomy 5:7-15

Well hello there. Getting back to our Hebrew translating. I have been a little slow with this since we have midterms gong on right now but I will try to get better at making regular posts. So looking over it, there isn't much different in the next few verses of the English translation. Hey, those translators did pretty great in my opinion, the things I am learning aren't complaints against their translating abilities. So if we could I'm going to jump ahead a little to vs. 10. The word used in the KJV here is mercy. But the Hebrew word חסד means any attribute of the Lord. It means mercy, kindness, loyalty, everything benevolent, gentleness, meekness, well you get the idea. So its saying that He is showing all of these things to us as we guard and protect, and love His commandments.
Verse 11 talks about taking the name of the Lord in vain. We discussed this a little bit in class. there is a great talk by Elder Oaks about the sacrament. Here's a link for it http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/04/taking-upon-us-the-name-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=sacrament+(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22) . It talks about how when we take the sacrament we aren't then, nor did we at baptism take the name of the Lord upon ourselves. The prayer itself says that we "will" take His name upon ourselves. This means its a future event. An event that comes later as we go through the temple. (Keep in mind again this is the Latter Day Saint view.)
On that note when we enter into any covenant with the Lord we are moving to a higher grace in the Gospel and we are not only blessed with something but we are obligated to seek something. With this first step of baptism we are taught that we receive the Holy Ghost, right? Well we still have to work for that, entering into the covenant of baptism is just the first step of this. We need to seek it, we need to seek the revelation that we are given. And yes, we need to seek the baptism by fire. This is the learning that we get through the Holy Ghost and does come through our trials. That's how we learn and grow. Its how we progress. If we aren't actively seeking after what we have the right to, dependent upon what covenants we have entered into, then we are living far below our privileges. we can do so much more with the Holy Ghost in our lives. (I will get off my soapbox and back to our Hebrew now though. But when you get some time to think about this, please do, there is so much more out there that we can attain if we will live up to what we are.)
So what does it mean to take His name upon ourselves anyways? The word used for take, actually means to lift off of or to carry. It is the same word used to describe that Christ took away our sins. He carries them, He lifted them off of us. What this verse is saying is don't carry His name without results. That isn't typically what we think of when we hear we aren't supposed to take His name in vain. Its not talking about cussing. Its saying don't take upon you the name of the Lord and then live an empty life, a life that is not worthy of His name. Verse 11 says, He won't forgive this sin. Wow. That sounds like reason enough to get off the couch and get out there and further the work doesn't it?
The next few verses are talking about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Something that stood out to me on the Sabbath discussion we had were the things we should contemplate on the Sabbath. remember the creation, remember the parting of the Red Sea, the deliverance from Egypt, remember the Resurrection. All three of these is an example of deliverance and each one is a miracle in and of itself. The Sabbath is meant for this reflection. As we reflect on these things we can see the miracles in our own lives a little more and we see just what the saving power of the Atonement can mean in our lives.

Deuteronomy 5:1-6

So I thought with my first translation I am posting on here I could give you a little bit of the layout. If anyone out there wants to learn how to translate or where they can get their own Hebrew Tanakh to start translating let me know and I can focus posts around that. Also if I decide I am absolutely insane, we may have some Greek in the future to finish out the second half of the Bible translating. But let's start with one language at a time shall we?
First off, a few words that I find utterly fascinating in this chapter. In Hebrew the word to learn also means to teach. (The people who put into effect the BYUI learning model would love that they have ancient script to back them up. I hate the learning model but I love this concept.) When we learn we are to teach, and when we teach we are learning. Covenants were never "made" they are to be "cut". This is how it is always referred to is cutting a covenant with the Lord. Which as we go a little more in depth I will talk a little more about this.
When talking about covenants the word keep is not used, instead it is the word shamar, which means to watch, guard, protect or revere. From an LDS perspective this is beautiful. Don't just keep the covenants you cut with the Lord, protect them. Guard them. Revere them. 
Okay so starting in the beginning of Deuteronomy 5, if you want I am using my Tanakh and I have my translation and my King James Version Bible sitting here if you want to follow along. Oh also I just have a few months left of this class so when it is over I am going to try to start from the beginning and work my way through. It will be slow going because its not for a class but if you are patient we may just get through it. 
Moses is speaking to Israel about the covenants they are cutting. He is telling them that they will be required to learn them (other side of that coin would be to teach them. We could apply this as teaching our children what we believe and how they can make and keep covenants).He tells them they will be required to protect them, and they will be required to do them. Often the Lord calls on us to go to action when we cut a covenant with Him. We can't just say that we agree and be on our merry way. In the next vs., vs 2, Adonai cuts the covenant in the mountain of Hereb. Most of the time covenants are made in the Old Testament it is done in the mountains. The mountain top would be the closest to the heavens that you could be and it was symbolic. If you look at our modern day temples this is also a symbolism that is present. In vs. 3 it is stated that the covenants being cut on this particular occasion are ones that were not made between the Lord and the older generations. These are covenants for the generation that is gathered together at mount Hereb at the time this is written. This is important to point out because the people are now ready for these new covenants and the previous generations were not. The previous generations came out of Egypt and that was what they were called to do. The new generation is to go on and do a little bit more. The next verse the Lord talks to the people face to face. This scares them and in the very next verse Moses stands between them and the Lord. The KJV says that the people were afraid. But in the Hebrew text, (oh my I forgot to tell you I am using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttsgartensia, there are different Hebrew texts just as there are different English texts.) it says they were terrified to the sinew of themselves with the word of G-d. And they were afraid because of the fire and they didn't go up to the mountain. This is  interesting. We sometimes let fear get in our way too. The fear that these people were experiencing kept them from directly making the covenants with the Lord. They needed Moses to stand as an in between for them. They were physically and spiritually taking a step back from the Lord. We know that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all had the Gospel. But it is at this point that they people stepped back, they were not ready for it. So G-d gave to them instead the law of Moses. The people were to live by this until they were ready for the higher law, the law of Christ. Which was given at His coming.
During this translation we discussed how covenants that are cut with the Lord are like a two-edged sword. You have probably heard that before. But what we decided that mean was that if we keep our covenants then that "sword" can cut for us. But if we don't live up to those covenants then that "sword" will cut against us. It can be to our benefit or to our detriment. 
We discussed how the word "cut" being used goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. Before they were cast out of the garden Satan gave to Adam and Eve a fake covering. A covering of fig leaves. But then Christ  gave them a true covering. He gave to them the coats of skins. Innocent blood had to be shed for this to be a real covering. Blood is symbolic of life. Life was given that life might be attained. This was the first lesson the Father gave to them in the garden. This lesson was of the Atonement. A cut is symbolic of a covenant for the covenant people. This is just my own opinion here, but I believe that is why Christ will still have the wounds of the crucifixion when He returns. They are symbolic of the covenant that He made with the Father in order to fulfill the Atonement. He covenanted with the Lord to take upon Himself our sins and the Father covenanted that if Christ would do that then He would be able to cleanse us of our sins. The Jews did not recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah. In Zechariah 13:6 it says they will ask what those wounds are. This is when Christ will teach them. They will be allowed, just as the people in 3 Nephi 11:15, were allowed to "thrust their hands into His sides". They are symbolically, going through the cut. When you make a covenant you must then go through the cut. You must do the action required, whether that be a symbolic action or a physical action. Which the physical ones typically are symbolic, you just have to look for it. G-d teaches through symbolism so that we can learn on different levels. We can take things at their face value. We can learn what the symbolism means and delve deeper. When we do this we have greater light and knowledge that we are then accountable for. He doesn't do this to confuse us, He does it because He knows that we are held responsible for higher things if we understand them and come to a knowledge of them.
Wow, that was only six verses. I'm going to let you process that for a little bit and I am going to take a break. We will pick up the next post at vs 7. I hope that this is informative or interesting to you, I know that it fascinates me. But then again so does tying flies and learning about different soil orders, so not everyone is going to be like me. Have a great night. Laila tov!

Introduction

Shalom,
I'm Katie. I am a student at BYU-Idaho. I am studying Hebrew just for fun, it has nothing to do with my major, I just really enjoy it. Now I know that everyone does not love studying languages and that is okay. I just thought that I learn so many interesting and neat things in this class and from translating that others might find it fascinating too. There is so much lost in translation on the Old Testament that I have just been astounded and thought you might like to learn a bit too. So no matter what religion you are, I hope that this can help you with your Bible study. Or I suppose if you didn't go to Hebrew school and you are Jewish then maybe it can help you with your study of the Tanakh (this is what the Jews call the Old Testament. And it turns out that old testament is a mis-translation anyways its supposed to be everlasting covenant.)
In this post I would like to tell you a little bit about me and then from there we can get into some translations. I am a junior this year studying horticulture. I love being outdoors and indoors. I like being in the mountains, camping, floating down the river, and just enjoying lovely little nature walks. Indoors I enjoy baking, reading, movies, writing, crafts of all sorts, and having dinner parties. I am currently single and despite what my grandma would lead you to believe, no, I am not a lesbian. I just haven't found the right guy yet. (I am twenty-six, and at BYU-I that means I am an old spinster. Don't worry though, I already have my first cat so I am well on my way to becoming the crazy old cat lady. He has to live with my parents though because we aren't allowed pets in our apartments.)
I started studying Biblical Hebrew about 7 months ago, so I would be the first to tell you I am not fluent or anything. So if there are any mistakes you see please feel free to point them out to me. I would hate to be adding to all the falsehoods on the internet these days. And there are differences in Biblical and Modern Hebrew so I couldn't have a normal conversation either. But the most important part, I can do. I can translate the Old Testament. :) I have studied a few languages before but Hebrew has by far captured my heart as far as I love doing it everyday. In my class we are kind of jumping all over to different stories because the narratives are a little easier to translate than things like Isaiah. The guy was sarcastic and funny and a beautiful writer, but man was he confusing at times. Oy Vey! Oh that reminds me, I should also warn you that as I have been studying a little Yiddish has been slipping into my vernacular. I will try to keep it to a minimum.
If you are any religion other than Latter Day Saint I suppose a few other phrases may slip into my posts but if they do I will try to explain them as far as my own personal beliefs. It is a part of who I am and at times I don't even realize that it may not sound normal if you are not LDS. I have been impressed that in my studies I have also been comparing the Jewish culture to the LDS culture and there have been a lot of similarities so I may mirror these at times too. Also I will be giving some cross references and these may often go along with the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price or Doctrine and Covenants.  If you have any questions about these sources let me know.
If you are Jewish I will apoligize right now, I will try to use G-d or Adonai as much as possible but I know I will probably slip up at least once  because I was not raised to say the Lord's name this way. I don't mean any disrespect to Him or to offend you in any way.
 If anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to post them on here or you can email me at ste05004@byui.edu . I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Let's get on to some translating shall we?