Looking Beyond the Mark

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    Looking beyond the Mark: Insights from

    the JST into First-Century Judaism

    Printed from The Religious Studies Center(http://rsc.byu/edu)Selected:

    Normal article

    Robert L. Millet, Looking beyond the Mark: Insights from the JST into First-Century

    Judaism,in The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and Precious

    Truths, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Robert L. Millet (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center,

    Brigham Young University, 1985), 20114.

    Looking beyond the Mark: Insights from the JST into First-Century Judaism

    Robert L. Millet

    Robert L. Millet was an assistant professor of ancient scripture at BYU when this was

    published.

    In speaking of Joseph Smith the Prophet, President Wilford Woodruff observed:

    His mind was opened by the visions of the Almighty, and the Lord taught him

    many things by vision and revelation that were never taught publicly in his days;

    for the people could not bear the flood of intelligence which God poured into his

    mind.[1]

    Latter-day Saints, however, should be filled with gratitude for what God didsee fit to

    make known to the restored church through that choice seer, the man who in moderntimes beheld things which were not visible to the natural eye (Moses 6:36).

    Through his work of inspired revision of the King James Bible (JST), the

    Prophet Joseph restored to the world many plain and precious truths concerning Jesus

    Christhis parables, miracles, his personality and power. In addition, invaluable

    insights concerning his ministry among the Jews are now available. This paper will deal

    specifically with the state of Judaism at the time of Jesus, as such things are elucidated

    in the JST.

    Introduction

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    Seven hundred years before Jesus walked the roads of his beloved Palestinian

    homelands, Isaiah the prophet spoke of the coming Messiah as one who would mature

    as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground (Isaiah 53:2). Indeed, he would

    grow up as a choice and favored plant whose strength and achievement did not come

    because of the arid social culture in which he dwelt; it was not poured into him by the

    erudition of Rabbinic teachers; but it came from the divine source from whence hesprang.[2]This root-stock or stem of Jesse would grow to godhood in a sterile and

    barren religious soil, in the midst of great learning but gross darkness. The social and

    religious backdrop of the life of Christthe setting of first-century Judaism in

    Palestineprovides the supreme element of contrast in the unfolding drama of the

    mortal ministry of the Son of God: the Anointed One was the Light which shone; a

    benighted generation bound by traditions and customs was the darkness which refused

    to comprehend the light.

    After ages of bondage, the Jews of the first century had riveted themselves upon

    the hope of deliverance. Anticipation was great and expectations were legion, for the

    Jews taught that the kingdom of God should immediately appear (JST Luke 19:11).And yet, the Jews were looking for a redeemer quite different from the Christ. It was a

    temporal salvation that they desired. It was an earthly kingdom for which they longed. It

    was not faith, repentance, and baptism for which they sought, but national vindication,

    the destruction of gentile oppressors, and the establishment of a kingdom of peace and

    justice.[3]With such limited vision and perspective, it is not difficult to see how a

    people could discern the face of the sky but not discern the signs of the times

    (Matthew 16:3). Jesus the Christ was the ultimate sign, the fulfillment of the Mosaic

    ordinances and utterances, and, ironically, the great endto all of Judaisms myriad

    means. Nevertheless, a stiffnecked generation refused to focus upon the Mark, and

    chose instead to look for a Messiah of their own making.

    Jesus, the Jews, and the Law

    In the purest sense, Jesus was an observant Jew. He Loved and honored the law

    of Moses, and sought to keep the statutes and ordinances associated therewith. His

    divine perspective allowed him to view the law in the spirit in which it was given, as a

    schoolmaster (literally pedagogue, tutor, or attendant) for a wayward people in

    need of structure and direction. Christ Himself, taught Joseph Smith, fulfilled all

    righteousness in becoming obedient to the law which he had given to Moses on themount, and thereby magnified it and made it honorable, instead of destroying it.[4]

    Until the time of the infinite atonement was past, the Master taught that the law was to

    be observed and kept. Heaven and earth must pass away, he emphatically declared,

    but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.

    Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach

    men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever

    shall do and teach these commandments of the law until it be fulfilled, the same shall be

    called great, and shall be saved in the kingdom of heaven. (JST Matthew 5:2021.)

    It is not difficult to fathom how a people could become so enamored with the

    extremities and extensions of the pure instruction of heaven that they might begineventually to ignore and overlook the core teachings, the weightier matters of the law.

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    Those who become easily bored by the basics and who constantly seek to engage in the

    peripheral and esoteric may come to trade plainness of blindness (see Jacob 4:14). Such

    was obviously the state of things at the time of Christ. Had the Pharisees been more

    intense in their study of the pure law (rather than the commentaries upon it) and more

    eager to apply its teachings (rather than seeking for further things which they could not

    understand), they might have distilled the central message of the Torah and therebyrecognized Jesus of Nazareth as the giver of the law and the promised Messiah. Such

    was not, however, to be the case. Even though Judaism represented the closest

    approximation to the ancient gospel (Salvation is of the Jews, Jesus explained to the

    Samaritan womanJohn 4:22), the failure of individuals and congregations to accept

    and receive the living oracles sealed their doom. One of the most interesting insertions

    of the Prophet Joseph Smith into the King James Bible is found in chapter 9 of

    Matthews Gospel. Note the relationship between rejecting (or ignoring) the law and

    rejecting the Christ:

    JST Matthew 9:1516

    And Jesus said unto them, Can the

    children of the bride-chamber mourn, as

    long as the bridegroom is with them? but

    the days will come when the bridegroom

    shall be taken from the, and then shall they

    fast.

    No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto

    an old garment, for that which is put in to

    fill it up taketh from the garment, and therent is made worse.

    JST Matthew 9:1622

    And Jesus said unto them, Can the

    children of the bridge-chamber mourn, as

    long as the bridegroom is with them?

    But the days will come, when the

    bridegroom shall be taken from them, and

    then shall they fast.

    Then said the Pharisees unto him, why

    will ye not receive us with our baptism,

    seeing we keep the whole law?[5]

    But Jesus said unto them, Ye keep not the

    law. If ye had kept the law, ye would have

    received me, for I am he who gave the law.

    I receive not you with your baptism,

    because it profiteth you nothing.

    For when that which is new is come, the

    old is ready to be put away.

    Forno man putteth a piece of new cloth

    on and old garment; for that which is put

    in to fill it up, taketh from the garment,

    and the rent is made worse.

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    Not only does the preceding addition provide a marvelous topical transition an establish

    the social and doctrinal setting for the discussion of new cloth and new battles (Jesus

    has rejected the baptism of the Phariseescf. D&C 22); it also underscores the fact that

    those who accept and follow divine direction come to recognize and accept the DivineDirector; those who set the law at naught and seek to become a law unto themselves are

    condemned by the law and rejected by the Lawgiver. Another passage from Luke

    teaches this same principle.

    KJV Luke 14:3335

    So likewise, whosoever he be of you thatforsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be

    my disciple.

    Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his

    savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

    It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the

    dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath

    ears to hear, let him hear.

    JST Luke 14:3438

    So likewise, whosoever of you forsakethnot all that he hath he cannot be my

    disciple.

    Then certain of them came to him,

    saying, Good Master, we have Moses and

    the prophets, and whosoever shall live by

    them, shall he not have Life?

    And Jesus answered, saying, Ye know not

    Moses, neither the prophets; for if ye had

    known them, ye would have believed on

    me; for to this intent they were written.

    For I am sent that ye might have life.

    Therefore I will liken it unto salt which is

    good;

    But if the salt has lost its savor,

    wherewith shall it be seasoned?

    It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the

    dung hill; men cast it out. He who hathears to hear, let him hear. These things he

    said, signifying that which was written,

    verily must all be fulfilled.

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    Jesus criticism of the leaders of the Jews was largely for their perverted

    priorities, for confusing tokens with covenants, ritual with religion. Further, he

    condemned their adherence to the traditions of the elders as teaching the doctrines

    and the commandments of men (JST Mark 7:67; JST Matthew 15:8). In the eyes of

    the Lord, to present oneself as a master and expert of the law and then to miss the

    undergirding intent and antitype of the law was the height of hypocrisy. In a sense, itwas to be guilty of a profanation and violation of the entire Mosaic code. Ye blind

    guides, Jesus said in a scathing denunciation, who strain at a gnat, and swallow a

    camel; who make yourselves appear unto men that ye would not commit the least sin,

    and yet ye yourselves, transgress the whole law (JST Matthew 23:21). In addition, the

    Lord chastened the leaders of the Jews for being so caught up in the observance of the

    traditions of the elders (see Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:19) that they had ceased to

    observe the very law around which those vain traditions had been established. In an

    insightful passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Christ explained to his disciples:

    KJV Matthew 7:35

    And why beholdest thou the mote that is

    in thy brothers eye, but considerest not

    the beam that is in thine own eye?

    Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let

    me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and,

    behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

    JST Matthew 7:48

    And again, ye shall say unto them, Why is

    it that thou beholdest the mote that is in

    they brothers eye, but considerest not the

    beam that is in thine own eye?

    Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let

    me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and

    canst notbehold a beam in thine own eye?

    And Jesus said unto his disciples,

    Beholdest thou the Scribes, and the

    Pharisees, and the Priests, and the

    Levites? They teach in their synagogues,

    but do not observe the law, nor the

    commandments; and all have gone out of

    the way, and are under sin.

    Go thou and say unto the, Why teach ye

    men the law and the commandment, whenye yourselves are the children of

    corruption?

    Say unto them, Ye hypocrites, first cast

    out the beam out of thine own eye; and

    then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the

    mote out of thy brothers eye.

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    Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam

    out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou

    see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy

    brothers eye.

    A similar passage from Mark points toward misplaced zeal and priorities among Jewish

    leaders Jesus is chiding the Jews for failure to keep the regulations of the law regarding

    care of ones parents (see Exodus 20:12). Note the account in the JST:

    KJV Mark 7:910

    And he said unto them, Full well ye

    reject the commandments of God, that ye

    may keep your own tradition.

    For Moses said, Honour thy father and

    thy mother; and Whoso curseth father or

    mother, let him die the death:

    JST Mark 7:912

    And he said unto them, Yea, altogether

    ye reject the commandment of God, that

    ye may keep your own tradition.

    Full well is it written of you, by the

    prophets whom ye have rejected.

    They testified these things of a truth, and

    their blood shall be upon you.

    Ye have kept not the ordinances of God;

    for Moses said, Honor thy father and thy

    mother; and whoso curseth father or

    mother, let him die the death of the

    transgressor, as it s written in your law;

    but ye keep not the law.

    Spiritual Stumblings of the Jews

    Jesus stood as a marked contrast to the rabbis of his day. He taught the people

    as one having authority from God, and not as having authority from the Scribes (JST

    Matthew 7:37). The ability to teach with spiritual authority is a gift granted to those

    who pay the price of fasting, prayer, and scripture study (see Alma 17:23). Jesus had

    paid such a price and much more, while his Jewish counterparts had attended more to

    what the learned had said aboutthe law than what had actually been said inthe law. Ye

    do err therefore, Christ said the Sadducees, because ye know not, and understand not

    the Scriptures, neither the power of God (JST Mark 12:28). Here even the

    Sadduceeswho rejected the oral interpretations so dear to the heart of the Pharisees

    are scolded for their lack of scriptural insight. Had the leaders of the Jews prayerfully

    studied and taught from the scriptures of the day, there would have been a power and anauthority behind the words they spoke. Had they accepted Jesus as the Christ and

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    entered in at the strait gate, they would have enjoyed the ratifying influence of the Holy

    Ghost in their declarations. Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written:

    Many great doctrinal revelations come to those who preach from the scriptures.When they are in tune with the Infinite, the Lord lets them know, first, the full

    and complete meaning of the scriptures they are expounding, and then he

    ofttimes expands their views so that new truths flood in upon them, and they

    learn added things that those who do not follow such a course can never

    know.[6]

    Needless to say, first-century Judaism may be characterized as a generation who, for the

    most part, did notfollow such a course. Consequently, the teachers of the day lacked the

    confirming spiritual power that was so evident in the works and words of Jesus.

    Jesus chided the Pharisees and scribes for remaining content with a sterile form

    of worship, a hollow shell of a system wanting in the life that is breathed into religious

    practice through current revelation. Truly, as Nephi had taught almost six hundred years

    before, from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even

    that which they have (2 Nephi 28:30). Traditions are evident among some rabbis

    concerning a noticeable absence in ancient Judaism of the spirit of prophecy and

    revelation.[7]Some date the loss of the Holy spirit or the divine Shekhinah from the

    destruction of the first temple, others with the deaths of the Old Testament prophets.[8]

    One ancient Jewish writer observed: When the last of the Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah,

    and Malachi died, the Holy spirit departed from Israel.[9]Another account: At first,

    before Israel sinned against morality, the Shekhinah abode with each individual; as it is

    said, For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp (Deuteronomy 23:15).

    When they sinned, the Shekhinah departed from them.[10]E.R. Goodenough spoke oflater Judaism and made the distinction between what he called the horizontal and

    vertical paths to holiness. In describing the horizontal path, Goodenough explained:

    Man walked through this life along the road God had put before him, a road

    which was itself the light and law of God, and God above rewarded him fordoing so. Man was concerned with proper observances to show respect to God,

    and with proper attitudes an acts toward his fellow men, but apart from honoring

    God, he looked to God only for the divine rod and staff to guide him when he

    was weak. . . . This seems to me the Wesen of halachic or rabbinic or talmudic or

    Pharisaic Judaism. . . .[11]

    Further, Goodenough observed:

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    Alongside rabbinic Judaism in Palestine in the century or so before the fall of

    Jerusalem there sprang up a rash of other sects. The Essences we know by name,

    but we have only external and inadequate reports of their views. Then we have

    documents, like the strange apocalypses of Enoch and Baruch, Noah, Adam, and

    the rest, whose interest seems to be in a hero who had trod not a horizontal path

    but a vertical one up to the throne of God, and had returned to tell men ofanother world.[12]

    In summary, Goodenough proposed that there was eventually within Judaism the

    tension between the two basic types of religious experience . . . , the religion of the

    vertical path by which man climbs to God and even to a share in divine nature, as over

    against the legal religion where man walks a horizontal path through this world

    according to Gods instructions.[13]In the end, according to Goodenough, Rabbinic or

    Pharisaic Judaism won out, and the vertical path to God within Judaism was suppressed

    and gradually forgotten.[14]The fact that many in the first century had reached thepoint of personal apostasy to the degree that they no longer accepted modern prophets

    or even personal revelation is evident in the following from the Sermon on the Mount:

    KJV Matthew 7:710

    Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and

    ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened

    unto you:

    For every one that asketh receiveth; and

    he that seeketh findeth; and to him that

    knocketh it shall be opened.

    JST Matthew 7:1219

    Say unto them, Ask of God, ask, and it

    shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;

    knock, and it shall be opened unto you

    For every one that asketh, receiveth; and

    he that seeketh, findeth; and unto him that

    knocketh, it shall be opened.

    And then said his disciples unto him, they

    will say unto us, We ourselves are

    righteous, and need not that any man

    should teach us. God, we know, heard

    Moses and some of the prophets; but us he

    will not hear.

    And they will say, We have the law for

    our salvation, and that is sufficient for us.

    Then Jesus answered, and said unto his

    disciples, thus shall ye say unto them,

    What man among you, having a son, and

    he shall be standing out, and shall say,

    father, open thy house that I may come in

    and sup with thee, will not say, Com in, my

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    Or what man is there of you, whom if his

    son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

    Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a

    serpent?

    son; for mine is thine, and thine is mine?

    Or what man is there among you, who, if

    his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

    Or if he ask a fish, will he give him aserpent?

    Perhaps more than any other place in the Gospels, the above passage from the Prophets

    inspired revision demonstrates the static and inert condition of the days of Jesus. Much

    like the people in our day who eschew the Book of Mormon as an unnecessary addition

    to the total and complete and inerrant Bible, the Jews of the first century had stumbled

    into a pathetic state of blindness perfectly characterized by the statement: God, we

    know, heard Moses and some of the prophets; but us he will not hear. How typical of

    those who are past feeling to so respond.

    Have ye inquired of the Lord? Nephi asked his rebellious brothers concerning

    their lack of understanding regarding the destiny of the house of Israel. We have not,

    they responded, for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us. (1 Nephi 15:89;

    emphasis added.) In Christs day the spirit of true inquiry was all but gone. Absent was

    the awareness of the need for the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Elder Orson Pratt

    explained:

    The Jews had apostatized before Jesus came among them to that degree, thatthere were sects and parties among them, just as we find in the Christian world

    since; and these Jewish sects were destitute of the spirit of prophecy which their

    ancient fathers had; they were destitute of the ministration of angels, and

    scarcely one feature existed which was among their fathers in the days of their

    righteousness. It was because of this that the Jews were broken off, and the

    Gentiles were grafted in, and were made partakers of the riches, blessings and

    glories formerly enjoyed by the ancient Jews.[15]

    As an illustration of the elevation of the wise interpreter of the law over the simple manwith prophetic mantle and inspiration, note the following short observation of one

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    Jewish mind: Although the gift of prophecy was taken away from the prophets, it

    remained with the wise; hence it may be inferred that the wise are greater than the

    prophets.[16]One rather humorous but poignant rabbinic anecdote is given in the

    Babylonian Talmud. It seems that a debate had ensued between a Rabbi Eliezer and a

    number of his colleagues. The account is as follows:

    On that day R. Eliezer brought forward every imaginable argument, but they did

    not accept them. Said he to them: If the halachah agrees with me, let this

    carob-tree prove it! Thereeupon the carob-tree was torn a hundred cubits out of

    its placeothers affirm four hundred cubits. No proof can be brought from a

    carob-tree, they retorted. Again he said to them: If the halachah agrees with

    me, let the stream of water prove it! Whereupon the stream of water flowed

    backwards. No proof can be brought from a stream of water, they rejoined.

    Again he urged: If the halachuh agrees with me, let the walls of the building be

    inclined to fall. But R. Joshua rebuked them, saying: When scholars areengaged in a halachicdispute, what have ye to interfere? Hence they did not

    fall, in honour of R. Joshua, nor did they resume the upright, in honour of R.

    Eliezer; and they are still standing thus inclined. Again he said to them: If the

    halachahagrees with me, let it be proved from Heaven! Whereupon a

    Heavenly Voice cried out: Why do ye dispute with R. Eliezer, seeing that in all

    matters the halachahagrees with him! But R. Joshua arose andexclaimed: It

    is not in heaven. What did he mean by this?Said R. Jeremiah: That the

    Torah had already been given at Mount Sinai; we pay no attention to a Heavenly

    Voice, because Thou hast long since written in the Torah at Mount Sinai. . .[17]

    An absentee God and an unresponsive Deity exerts little influence upon the

    hearts and minds of his children. Those who subscribe to a belief in such a Being are

    only a stones throw removed from an outright denial of their Gods existence. It is

    easier for heaven and earth to pass, the Lord declared, than for one tittle of the law to

    fail. And then in a discerning and stinging manner, Christ continued to address the

    leaders of the Jews: Why teach ye the law, and deny that which is written; and

    condemn him whom the Father hath sent to fulfil the law, that ye might all be

    redeemed? O fools! for you have said in your hearts, There is no God. And you pervert

    the right way; and the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence of you; and you persecutethe meek; and in your violence you seek to destroy the kingdom. (JST Luke 16:1921;

    emphasis added.)

    The Jews of the meridian dispensation made their destruction sure when they

    determined upon a course which denied the place and efficacy of continuing revelation.

    Woe unto you, lawyers! the Savior said. Forye have taken away the key of

    knowledge, the fullness of the scriptures; ye enter not in yourselves into the kingdom;

    and those who were entering in, ye hindered. (JST Luke 11:53; emphasis added.) Elder

    McConkie has written concerning this verse:

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    The Devil wages war against the scriptures. He hates them, perverts their

    plain meanings, and destroys them when he can. He entices those who heed his

    temptings to delete and discard, to change and corrupt, to alter and amend, thus

    taking away the key which will aid in making men wise unto salvation (2

    Timothy 3:151).

    Accordingly, Jesus is here heaping wo upon those who have

    contaminated and destroyed scriptures which would have guided and

    enlightened the Jews.[18]

    In a much broader sense, to take away the fullness of the scriptures is to deny and

    hinder the spirit of revelation, inasmuch as scripture represents that which is uttered by

    the power of the Holy Ghost (see D&C 68:34). There stood One among the Jews who,

    with his associates (as legal administrators), offered to the world of the first century

    living scripture, living fruit from the living tree of life. Those who were earnest in theirhearts partook of the fruit and lived. Those who chose to walk in darkness at noon day

    rejected the fruit and denied themselves access to Gods new covenant with Israel, and,

    equally important, fellowship with the Mediator of the covenant.

    Notes

    [1]Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints Book Depot, 185586),

    5:8384.

    [2]Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ(Salt Lake

    City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), 478.

    [3]Joseph F. McConkie, Messianic Expectations Among the Jews, inA Symposium on

    the New Testament(Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

    Church Educational System, 1980), 128.

    [4]Joseph Smith,History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols.

    (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1972), 5:261.

    [5]Now the process by which a man was made a proselyte [convert to Judaism] was

    threefold: it consisted of circumcision, immersion in water (i.e., baptism), and the

    presentation of an offering in the Temple. Of these rites baptism assumed a growing

    importance. (W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism [Philadelphia: Fortress

    Press, 1980], 121.) See also Joachim Jeremias,Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus

    (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), p. 320; Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the

    Jews, 7 vols. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1937), 3:88; F. F. Bruce,The Book of the Acts (Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans, 1979), 64; W. F. Flemington,

    http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_edn18http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_edn18http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_edn18http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref1http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref1http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref2http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref2http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref3http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref3http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref4http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref4http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref5http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref5http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref5http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref4http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref3http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref2http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_ednref1http://rsc.byu.edu/print/book/export/html/1663#_edn18
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    Baptism, inInterpreters Dictionary of the Bible, 5 vols. (Nashville, TN:

    Abingdon Press, 196276), 1:34849.

    [6]Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, 51516.

    [7]I am indebted to Catherine Thomas for calling a number of these statements to myattention. Some of the statements are cited in Catherine Thomass Cessation and

    Restoration of Divine Revelation in Israel, unpublished manuscript.

    [8]See Ginzberg,Legends, 6:44142.

    [9]Yomah 9b and Sotah 48b, as cited in Thomas, Cessation and Restoration of Divine

    Revelation in Israel, 4.

    [10]Sotah 3b, as cited in ibid.

    [11]E. R. Goodenough,Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. (NewYork: Bollingen Foundation, 1953), 1:18.

    [12]Ibid., 1819.

    [13]Ibid., 1920.

    [14]See Goodenoughs discussion in ibid., 332.

    [15]Orson Pratt inJournal of Discourses, 16:345; (emphasis added).

    [16]Cited in Ginzberg,Legends, 6:442.

    [17]TB BABA BAZIA 59B; see also Milton Steinberg,Basic Judaism (New York:

    Harcourt, Brace & World, 1947), 6869.

    [18]Bruce R. McConkie,Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. (Salt Lake

    City: Bookcraft, 196673), 1:62425.

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