Handout 8: Sodom, Gomorrah, Lot and Moab, Melchizedek, Melchizedek Seal, kohen gadol, Levite tribal marker, Goyim, Rabbi Meir Simcha, Mashiach, redemption w/o redeemer, Chedorlaomer
Sodom – (Heb. Tzevoyim) burning. Gomorrah= submersion. According to Old Testament (Genesis 18, 19), two ancient cities in Palestine, near the Dead Sea. The Bible almost invariably speaks of them together. With Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (these cities were the cradle of the race of Lot), Sodom and Gomorrah formed the five “cities of the plain”. All but Zoar are said to have been destroyed by brimstone and fire, perhaps accompanied by an earthquake, because of the indecency and perverse sexual practices of their inhabitants. Later they became prototypes of evil places and there are several tales in the Aggadic (Aramaic- tales, lore) tradition of the horrible things that occurred there. In Hebrew, the Aggadim are the stories, advice, anecdotes in rabbinic literature of Judaism.
When God made has plans known to Abraham about the destruction of Sodom, Abraham was worried about the righteous people in city. God then promised that he would save the city if He found ten righteous people there. He sent two angels to Sodom, and they encountered Lot at the gates of the city. Lot took the two angels to his house and offered them food and place to sleep. Later that night, the men of the city surrounded his house and ordered that he delivered to them the two men he had taken in. When they tried to force their way in, the angels struck them with blindness.
They then spoke to Lot of the impending destruction of the city and told him to leave with his wife and two daughters. He and his family were warned not to look behind when they left to city, but Lot’s wife did so and was instantly transformed in a salt pillar. Lot ( veil or covering) Moab (of his father). Ruth (sight worth seeing, friend of God), was a descendant of Moab. Lot is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:9, 19; Psalm 83:8. He was also seduced by his daughters so they could bear descendants (Gen 19:30-38). He is regarded as one of the prophets of Islam.
Levitical laws against incest were created to separate the lifestyle of the Israelite from the sinful lifestyle of the cursed people of Canaan, (Gen 9:22-28) despite any incestual involvements the patriarchs had in the past. The Levitical laws were needed for a developing nation who needed to be seen as different from the world, cleansed and blameless: The first step – circumcision; giving posterity to God.
Melchizedek or Malki Tzedek (Hebrew: מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶֿק) (translated as “my king (is) righteous(ness)” was a king and priest of El (God the Father) in Jerusalem, mentioned during the Abram narrative in Genesis 14 and JST 14:18:
“And Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem) brought forth bread and wine and he was the priest of the most high God”.
Now Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch, it being after the order of the Son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end of years; but of God; And it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own will, unto as many as believed on his name. (JST Gen 14:26) We read also: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent: ‘Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek.’.” (Psalm 110:4)
Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils of war.
( Heb 7:3-4) But in Joseph Smith Genesis- Inspired Version it is clear that the priesthood is without father or mother, also, and is not limited to a certain family. “In fact, that priesthood is a perfect law of theocracy, and stands as God to give laws to the people, administering endless lives to the sons and daughters of Adam. Abraham says to Melchizedek, I believe all that thou hast taught me concerning the priesthood and the coming of the Son of Man; so Melchizedek ordained Abraham and sent him away. Abraham rejoiced, saying, Now I have a priesthood. Salvation could not come to the world without the mediation of Jesus Christ.” (see Hist.of Church 5:554-6). The two priesthoods are really governments at ascending levels of righteousness and spiritual progression.
When Melchizedek appeared in the flesh, the Egyptians had a religion far above that of the surrounding peoples. They believed that a disembodied soul, if properly armed with magic formulas, could evade the intervening evil spirits and make its way to the judgment hall of Osiris, where, if innocent of “murder, robbery, falsehood, adultery, theft, and selfishness,” it would be admitted to the realms of bliss. If this soul were weighed in the balances and found wanting, it would be consigned to hell, to the Devouress. And this was, relatively, an advanced concept of a future life in comparison with the beliefs of many surrounding peoples.
Melchizedek Seal: Ravenna mosaic, c. A.D. 520, shows the priest-king Melchizedek in a purple cloak, offering bread and wine at the altar (Genesis 14:18-20). The white altar cloth is decorated with two sets of gammadia (markings on ceremonial clothing), as well as the so-called “seal of Melchizedek,” (above fonts in some temples)two interlocked squares in gold. Abel offers his lamb as Abraham gently pushes Isaac forward. The hand of God reaches down to this sacred meeting through the red veils adorned with golden gammadia on either side. The theme is the great sacrifice of Christ, which brings together the righteous prophets from the past as well as the four corners of the present world, thereby uniting all time and space.”
Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, Latvia (1843–1926) interprets the phrase “And he gave him tithe from all” as a verbal continuation of Melchizedek’s speech, meaning: Melchizedek exclaimed that God had chosen to gift Abram a tenth of God’s possession of the entire human race – in the form of the seven nations of the land of Canaan, including the cities of Sodom that Abram succeeded in saving. Rabbi Meir Simcha argues that continued speech of this sort was a common form of prophetic expression.
In Psalms, Melchizedek is named as the representative priest in whose succession the Davidic king is ordained “priest “ forever.In the NT he becomes the sacral king whose royal holiness transcends all human orders, foreshadowing the divinity of Jesus. Fragments of first century scrolls and scrolls found in the Qumran caves in 1956 also refer to him. These chapters also speak of temple blessings. Abraham desired the blessings of the temple. He wanted instruction that would allow him to move from a lesser to a greater order wherein he, like Melchizedek and the fathers before him, would be called a prince of peace and high priest. (Abr 1:2)
In connection with his marriage to Sarah he received the temple covenant promises of a kingdom, priesthood power and seed (Gen 11:27-12:5, 2:1-16), just as Adam and Noah did. He was severely tested but after that the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that the Lord repeated the Abrahamic Covenant after the binding of Isaac, only that time he swore an oath in order to confirm or make sure the blessings of the covenant upon Abraham. (Words of Joseph Smith, p.245).
Goyim – Literally ‘nations’ or ‘hordes’. This might indicate that Melchizedek was the king over a number of nations, or perhaps, celestial king. In modern times, goy or goyim is Hebrew for “nation, children of nations other than Israel”.
The High Priest ha-kohen-gadol, Pl. kohanim ( כֹּהֲנִים) is used in reference to Aaron and his patrilineal descendants who were anointed with holy oil (Lev. 21:10; Num. 35:25, 28; Josh. 20:6), and later to the chief priest of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem (II Kings 12:11; 22:4, 8; 23:4; Neh. 3:1, 20; 13:28). The High Priest was distinguished from ordinary priests in a number of respects. Based on Exodus 28, the Talmudic sources state that every priest, while performing the Temple service, had to wear four garments: a tunic, a girdle, a turban, and breeches reaching from the hips to the thighs. These four were worn by the High Priest as well but in addition he wore four further garments.
These were: the ephod, a kind of apron, worn from behind with a sash in front around his middle; the meil, a coat reaching from his neck to his feet with bells and pomegranate-shaped adornments at its hem; the hoshen, a breastplate to which were affixed twelve precious stones containing the engraved names of the 12 tribes; and the tzitz, a gold forehead piece on which was engraved the words: “Holy to the Lord.” Unlike ordinary priests, the High Priest (Leviticus 21:10-14) was only allowed to marry a virgin who had not before been married. Unlike ordinary priests, who, while not permitted to come into contact with a corpse, were allowed to come into contact with the corpse of a near relative, the High Priest was not allowed to come into contact even with the corpse of his father and mother. He conducted services in the Temple on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. And he was the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, the holiest place in the Temple. If he died while there, he was pulled out by a cord tied to his legs; no one of lesser standing could enter the area.
Beginning either under late Persian or early Hellenistic rule in Palestine, the high priest is not merely responsible for religious and spiritual life within the country, but is also chief administrator of internal secular policy, as well as the recognized representative of the Jewish community in all matters of external diplomacy. This development of high-priestly power reached its peak under the Hasmoneans, and thus, even when the latter were already designated as kings, it was considered essential to retain the title of “high priest” which, encompassing so many functions, was probably even more revered than the monarchy itself.
Today’s Kohen: A Jew is considered a Kohen if he is a descendent of the first priest Aaron, the brother of Moses, from the Levite tribe. In 1997, Dr. Karl Skorecki, a nephrologist and a top-level researcher at the University of Toronto and the Rambam-Technion Medical Center in Haifa, believed that if today’s Kohanim are the descendants of one man (Aaron HaCohen), then they should have a common set of genetic markers at a higher frequency than the general Jewish population. Skorecki’s study found that a particular marker (YAP-) was detected in 98.5 percent of the Kohanim, and in a significantly lower percentage of non-Kohanim. In addition, researchers found that a particular array of six chromosomal markers, called the Cohen Modal Hapoltype (CMH), was found in 97 of the 106 Kohenim tested. The chances of these findings happening at random is greater than one in 10,000. Thus, recent scientific research has proven a clear genetic relationship among Kohanim and their direct lineage from a common ancestor. (There is no known genetic marker for any other tribe.) These are Ashkenazic markers.
The Hebrew word Mashiah, Mashiach (Messiah), (Greek- Christos), means anointed with oil. In the scriptures, kings, Israelites and foreign and high priests are described by this word, for all were anointed with oil. Likewise, the high priest is called the anointed priest (Lev 4:3, 5:16). Gradually the word mashiach became a title of honor signifying “chosen” because the act of anointing with oil was the sign of choice and elevation. Yet the word Messiah, to designate the expected redeemer, does not occur either in the O.T, or in the books of the Apocrypha, but in the Book of Enoch for the first time and not connected with the idea of a personal messiah.
The expectation of redemption without a human redeemer resides in the nature of the Jewish view of the Deity and the control of the world. (Klausner, The Messianic idea in Israel). Israel was not able to imagine a man who had attained a completely divine stage…its Messiah was not entirely spiritual; he was spiritual and political at the same time…a twofold Messiah: Messiah ben Joseph, an earthly Messiah who fights against God and Magog and falls in battle, and Messiah ben David, a spiritual Messiah, who prepares the world for the Kingdom of god. (Heb: ben=son). This prophecy is found in tablets prior to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Fact: anciently the Hebrews knew truth through prophecy. When truth is lost, only God’s prophets can restore it!
Chedorlaomer or Kedorlaomer “a handful of sheaves” is a king of Elam in Genesis 14. He ruled fourteen years, from the East in southwestern Persia, occupying the regions east of the Jordan River in the days of Abram. … According to the Bible, in the days of Lot, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, The Elamite empire occupied the Land of Canaan which included all of the Jordan River Plain and many surrounding tribes and cities. The occupation was under the rule of King Chedorlaomer for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, five kings of the cities of the Jordan plain revolted against Elamite rule. According to Jewish tradition, the revolt started with refusing to pay tribute to the Elamite empire. This triggered Chedorlaomer to assemble forces from the four main directions of Mesopotamia. Chedorlaomer’s campaign to the Jordan plains began with sacking and looting every city along the way.(Genesis 14:1–7).