Excerpted from Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Temple Themes in the Book of Moses, Salt Lake City: Eborn, 2010 For more information, see www.imageandlikeness.net 3. The Vision of Moses as a Heavenly Ascent Co-Authored with David J. Larsen Figure 3-1. Harold Bloom, 1930- T HE eminent Yale professor and Jewish literary scholar Harold Bloom has called the book of Moses and the book of Abraham two of the “more surprising” and “neglected” works of LDS scripture.91 With the great spate of publications over the decades since fragments of Egyptian papyri were rediscovered in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,92 we have begun to see a remedy for the previous neglect of the book of Abraham.93 Now, gratefully, because of wider availability of the original manuscripts and new detailed studies of their contents, the book of Moses is also beginning to receive its due.94 What did Professor Bloom find so “surprising” in the book of Moses? He said he was intrigued by the fact that many of its themes are “strikingly akin to ancient suggestions.” While expressing “no judgment, one way or the other, upon the authenticity” of LDS scripture, he found “enormous validity” in the way these writings “recapture… crucial elements in the archaic Jewish religion.… that had ceased to be available either to normative Judaism or to Christianity, and that 23 3. THE VISION OF MOSES AS A HEAVENLY ASCENT survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched [Joseph] Smith directly.”95 In other words, Professor Bloom found it a great wonder that Joseph Smith could have come up with, on his own, a modern book that resembles so closely ancient Jewish and Christian teachings. Figure 3-2. Hugh W. Nibley, 1910-2005 Hugh Nibley’s assessment of the genius that shines forth in the Pearl of Great Price also bears repeating: Was there ever a more daring example of extreme scholarship than Joseph Smith’s announcement of the forthcoming publication of his translation of the Book of Mormon from the gold plates to which he had been introduced by an angel? In less time than it takes a college student to produce a respectable term paper and after devastating advance notices in the press, the twenty-five-year- old dirt farmer from upstate New York had prepared a 588-page book covering every major aspect in the life of an ancient civilization over a period of one thousand years and was diligent in placing it in the hands of an invincibly hostile public. 24 TEMPLE THEMES IN THE BOOK OF MOSES The answer to our opening question, by the way, is “Yes, there was another even bolder venture: five years later when Smith surpassed his first effort by laying out firsthand accounts by the ancient leaders of the seven major dispensations of sacred history.”96 The separate histories range in length from single chapters to eleven pages (five chapters) of the Book of Abraham. The books of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith, each giving a firsthand account of his dispensation, may now be challenged and tested by a library of ancient apocryphal writings, which Géza Vermès calls “The Rewritten Bible.” In a time when those apocryphal writings were almost totally unknown to the world, Joseph Smith could be his usual unshakably confident self; but today we have the library of texts to support or refute him.97 After all these years it comes as a surprise for me to learn that the Book of Moses appeared in the same year as the publication of the Book of Mormon, the first chapter being delivered in the very month of its publication. And it is a totally different kind of book, in another style, from another world. It puts to rest the silly arguments about who really wrote the Book of Mormon, for whoever produced the Book of Moses would have been even a greater genius.… Was the great last dispensation to be brought on with old shopworn forms and ceremonies? A dispensation is a period of the world's history during which the church of God with its covenants and ordinances is upon the earth; in the apocalyptic scheme of things it is a comparatively brief period of light following a long period of darkness. What would be an appropriate ensign to announce and inaugurate such a happy time? The single civilization that embraces the world today, whichever way it turns, sees only itself, a great all- confining cliché in which one can think only of what is being thought and do only what is being done. It cannot even imagine a new dispensation, let alone supply one. Like a heavy galleon it labors on into ever deepening gloom, prodded on its way from time to time by promising puffs of a New Order, New Method, New Education, New Deal, New Life, New Cure, New Light, New Way, etc., but ever and again losing momentum as the fleeting winds quickly blow themselves out, leaving the old scow to wallow on as best it may towards the dawn of nothing… From what source can we look for comfort? From none on this distracted globe. It came from the outside, the Mormons said: The long, long silence was broken by an angel from on high. At once the whole world exploded in one long hoot of derision—adequate witness to the total novelty of the thing; here was something utterly alien and retrograde to everything the world taught and 25 3. THE VISION OF MOSES AS A HEAVENLY ASCENT believed… [No one could] be asked to take him seriously were it not that he came before an unbelieving world with boundless riches in his hands.98 Having spent the last few years in focused study of this inspired work of scripture, I have also been astonished with the extent to which its words reverberate with the echoes of antiquity—and, no less significantly, with the deepest truths of my personal experience. Indeed, I would not merely assert that the book of Moses holds up well under close examination, but rather that, like a fractal whose self- similar patterns become more wondrous upon ever closer inspection, the brilliance of its inspiration shines most impressively under bright light and high magnification: there is glory in the details. A prime example of such inspiration is Moses 1, one of the most remarkable chapters in scripture. Though it serves as a superb introduction to succeeding chapters that describe the Creation and the Fall, its separate prologue99 and epilogue100 signal its status as a revelation that can stand apart on its own. The events described apparently took place sometime after Jehovah called Moses out of the burning bush101 but before he had returned to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel.102 Though several of the individual episodes in the chapter are very well known— Moses’ confrontation with Satan, his comprehensive vision of the earth and all its inhabitants, and God’s declaration about his “work and glory”—how all these pieces join beautifully into a coherent whole has been generally underappreciated by scripture readers. It is now quite evident, however, that the outline of events in Moses 1 fits squarely in the tradition of ancient “heavenly ascent” literature and its relationship to temple theology, rites, and ordinances.103 It is significant that this account was revealed to Joseph Smith more than a decade before the full temple endowment was administered to others in Nauvoo. Heavenly Ascent in the Ancient World Although stories of heavenly ascent bear important similarities to temple practices, they make the claim of being something more. While ancient temple rituals dramatically depict a figurative journey into the presence of God, the ascent literature tells the stories of prophets who experience actual encounters with Deity within the heavenly temple—the “completion or fulfillment” of the “types and images” in earthly priesthood ordinances.104 In such encounters, the prophet may experience a vision of eternity, participation in worship with the angels, and the conferral of certain blessings that are “made sure”105 by the voice of God Himself. 26 TEMPLE THEMES IN THE BOOK OF MOSES Figure 3-3. Guardians Part the Veils and Admit Muhammad to the Throne of God For example, such an experience is reported in traditions about Muhammad. Doubting Meccans had asked that he “confirm the authenticity of his prophethood by ascending to heaven and there receiving a holy book… In this, he was to conform to a model illustrated by many still extant legends… regarding Enoch, Moses, Daniel, Mani, and many other messengers who had risen to heaven, met God, and received from his right hand a book of scripture containing the revelation they were to proclaim.”106 During his “night journey” (isra), the angel Gabriel mounted him on Buraq, a winged steed, that “took him to the horizon” and then, in an instant, to the temple mount in Jerusalem.107 At the Gate of the Guard, Ishmael “asks Muhammad’s name and inquires whether he is indeed a true messenger.”108 After having given a satisfactory answer, Muhammad was permitted to gradually ascend from the depths of hell to the highest of the seven heavens on a golden ladder (mi’raj).109 At the gates of the Celestial Temple, a guardian angel again “ask[ed] who he [was]. Gabriel introduce[d] Muhammad, who [was] then allowed to enter the gardens of Paradise.”110 27 3. THE VISION OF MOSES AS A HEAVENLY ASCENT The heavenly journeys described in accounts attributed to prophets and mystics have been mirrored in ritual since time immemorial, especially in practices relating to the initiation of kings. All evidence seems to indicate “a broad continuity of culture throughout the Levant”111 wherein the candidate for kingship underwent a ritual journey intended to confer a divine status as a son of God112 and allowing him “ex officio, direct access to the gods. All other priests were strictly deputies.”113 Scholars have long debated the meaning of scattered fragments of rituals of sacral kingship in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms.114 Findings at Qumran and Dura Europos suggest that in at least some strands of Jewish tradition these rituals were democratized, enabling members of the community to participate in what Fletcher-Louis calls an “angelomorphic priesthood” and a routinized form of transformational worship that ritually brought them into the presence of God.115 In contrast to texts that describe, whether in vision or ritual form, a temporary ascent of the living to heaven followed by a return to earth, Ginzberg summarizes Jewish traditions about the soul’s eventual ascent to heaven after death. One difference between Ginzberg’s account and the story of Muhammad is that the Garden of Eden or Paradise is depicted as a mere waystation rather than a permanent resting place: “the souls of all men must pass through it after death, before they reach their final destination”116: For the souls of the departed must go thorugh seven portals before they arrive in the heaven ’Arabot. There the souls of the pious are transformed into angels, and there they remain forever, praising God and feasing their sight upon the glory of the Shekinah [= the divine Presence]. The first portal is the Cave of Machpelah, in the vicinity of Paradise, which is under the care and supervision of Adam. If the soul that presents herself at the portal is worthy, he calls out, “Make room! Thou art welcome!” The soul then proceeds until she arrives at the gate of Paradise guarded by the cherubim and the flaming sword. If she is not found worthy, she is consumed by the sword; otherwise she receives a pass-bill, which admits her to the terrestrial Paradise. Therein is a pillar of smoke and light extending from Paradise to the gate of heaven, and it depends upon the character of the soul whether she can climb upward on it and reach heaven. The third portal, Zebul, is at the entrance of heaven. If the soul is worthy, the guard opens the portal and admits her to the heavenly Temple. Michael presents her to God, and conducts her to the seventh portal, ’Arabot, within which the souls of the pious, changed to angels, praise the Lord, and feed on the glory of the Shekinah. Manichaean sources explicitly assert that the rituals performed while in life prefigure the actions that disciples will perform after death when, “at the time of their coming forth… the angel who holds the victory prize extends to him the 28 TEMPLE THEMES IN THE BOOK OF MOSES right hand. And it draws him out of the abyss of his body, and accepts him in with the kiss and love.” That soul “shall be perfected and increased… in the household of the living ones, with the gods and the angels and all the apostles and the chosen. And he receives the crown […] glory in the life for ever.”117 The Structure of Moses 1 Prologue (vv. 1-2) Epilogue (vv. 41-42) Moses stands in the presence Moses in the spirit world (vv. 3-8) of the Lord (vv. 31-40) At the veil, Moses sees the earth and all its inhabitants (vv. 27-30) Moses calls upon God and is answered by a voice from behind the veil (vv. 24-26) Moses falls to the earth (vv. 9-11) Moses defeats Satan (vv. 12-23) Figure 3-4. The Structure of Moses 1 Consistent with the basic temple pattern and stories of heavenly ascent, Moses’ account tells of how he descends in vision from his first home in the spirit world and then undertakes a step-by-step return to the Father. Prologue. Verses 1-2 provide the kind of opening that Turner calls an “announcement of plot”118—not an account of what is happening at the moment, but rather a brief anticipatory summary of the principal events of the rest of the story. In this case, the prologue describes how Moses will be “caught up” to “an exceedingly high mountain” where he will receive the glory of God and, after conversing with Him face to face, will enter into His presence.119 Moses in the spirit world (vv. 3-8). Following the prologue, Moses is given a description of God’s attributes and a confirmation of his call to a work to which he had previously been foreordained as a son of God in the similitude of the Only Begotten.120 He is then shown the “world upon which he was created”— referring to the preexistent spirit realm—and “all the children of men which are, and which were created”—paralleling the view of organized intelligences given to Abraham.121 Moses falls to the earth (vv. 9-11). Having left the presence of God and no longer being clothed with His glory, Moses falls to the earth—meaning, first, that he collapsed in weakness, and, second, that he descended again to the relative darkness of the telestial world, thus recapitulating the journey of Adam and Eve and “landing,” as Nibley puts it, “as a natural man.”122 Moses is then left to himself to be tested in a dramatic encounter with Satan.123 29 3. THE VISION OF MOSES AS A HEAVENLY ASCENT Moses defeats Satan (vv. 12-23). Prefiguring his later encounter with Christ in the wilderness, Satan tempts Moses—now in a physically weakened state—to worship him. A context of priesthood ordinances is implied. For example, having banished Satan through the power of the Only Begotten (a motif linked in ancient sources to baptism), Moses is “filled with the Holy Ghost.”124 Moses calls upon God and is answered by a voice from behind the heavenly veil (vv. 24-26). Continuing to press forward, Moses “calls upon the name of God” in sacred prayer. Since the moment he “fell to the earth,” Moses could no longer speak face to face with the Lord, having been “shut out from his presence.”125 Following his prayer, however, Moses is answered by a voice from behind the heavenly veil enumerating specific blessings.126 In his discussion of early Christian and Jewish temple rituals, Tvedtnes notes that “prayer opens the veil to allow one to enjoy the presence of God.”127 At the heavenly veil, Moses sees the earth and all its inhabitants (vv. 27-30). While “the voice is still speaking,” Moses is permitted to see the inside surface of the heavenly veil and there beholds every particle of the earth, all of its inhabitants, and “many lands; … each … called earth.”128 Moses stands in the presence of the Lord (vv. 31-40). The culminating sequence of the vision begins in verse 31 when Moses, having continued to inquire of the Lord,129 comes to stand in His presence. God speaks with Moses face to face, describing His purposes for this earth and its inhabitants.130 Moses is then shown the events of the Creation, the Fall, and how the Plan of Redemption was given to Adam and Eve, as recorded in chapters 2-5 of the book of Moses. Parallels to Moses 1 in the Apocalypse of Abraham Building on the earlier work of Jared Ludlow131 and Hugh Nibley,132 David Larsen and I are exploring significant relationships between the first chapter of the book of Moses and the Apocalypse of Abraham.133 The Apocalypse of Abraham recounts the visionary journey of Abraham to the highest heaven, where he learns the secrets of Creation and is given a grand vision that includes a history of the world and a view of the spirits that existed with God before the Creation. The document is thought to be Jewish in origin, though it has been preserved by Christian hands.134 It is noteworthy that the first publication of an English translation was in the Church’s Improvement Era magazine in 1898.135 This picture shows the first page of a rare facsimile edition of the Codex Sylvester (Silvestrov svod), the oldest and the only independent manuscript with the full text of the Apocalypse of Abraham. It is written in Old Slavonic and dates to the 14th century. Most scholars date the composition of the original Hebrew or Aramaic 30 TEMPLE THEMES IN THE BOOK OF MOSES text to within a few decades of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, though it may contain traditions that are older. Figure 3-5. First Page of the Sylvester Codex, 14th century 31 3. THE VISION OF MOSES AS A HEAVENLY ASCENT Figure 3-6. The House of Terah Destroyed By Fire One of the unique features of the Codex Sylvester is its series of beautiful color illustrations. In addition to the original manuscript kept in Moscow, Russia, I have been able to find only two copies of the facsimile edition136 containing the illustrations—one located in Munich and the other in Oxford. Though one of the illustrations previously appeared in an article by Hugh Nibley,137 so far as I have been able to learn, the full set of six illustrations has not appeared in print for more than a century. The illustrations are valuable because they shed light on how medieval Christians in the East understood the text. In a few significant cases, it is clear that these Christians interpreted these stories differently than the first- or second-century editor of the text. The illustration above accompanies a story about how Abraham’s father Terah’s house was destroyed by fire from heaven because he persisted in idol worship.138 Abraham, a nimbus surrounding his head, stands at left wearing a green robe on his left shoulder indicating his priestly status. Note the crescent moon on the blue half-orb at the top representing God’s presence. We do not yet understand why the moon appears here, though a colleague has suggested an influence from the Bogomils, a Christian sect that had previously flourished in the region where the manuscript was composed.139 32