My notes, unfortunately, are not complete. I missed Margaret Barker’s presentation as Jeffrey Bradshaw and I battled the London Underground system and lost.  I also missed Dr. David Sheppard’s presentation on “Temple and Messiah in the Targum of Isaiah,” which I’m sure was wonderful and hope that he posts it online.  Any of the talks that are posted should appear at this site: http://www.templestudiesgroup.com/Symposia.htm.
The Notes:

Margaret Barker — “The Temple in Kings and Chronicles”

The full text of her speech is already posted online at the above link. I highly recommend taking a look at it!

Paul Joyce, Oxford — “The Hidden Temple in Ezekiel”

–Ezek 1 — Word of the Lord came to “priest” Ezekiel. “Word of the Lord came to” is a prophetic declaration, but it comes to a priest – Ezekiel was an exiled priest who was called to prophecy in Babylonia – a priest who becomes a prophet. The content of the book is both prophetic and priestly –  it confounds the notion that these are worlds apart. There are prejudices in academia against the priestly element and against the Book of Ezekiel itself.

The book is full of temple themes – it is shaped by the temple. It was written by a boy who grew up in the Jerusalem temple – its imagery fills what he says – explicit and implicit in things it can tell us about the temple.

Ezek 28 – v 11 ff. –rebuke of prince of Tyre – he is a figure that was once in Eden that fell from grace – description of the Eden setting – uses very mythological language – primal human being in Eden with precious stones – straight out of descriptions of the high priest – indirect priestly imagery – things of temple are connected to Eden and Creation

–Ezekiel is, above all, a visionary – “I saw visions of God”

Chapter 1 – dramatic picture with living creatures – dome over their heads – description of living creatures – throne above the dome – something that seemed like a human form – splendor like a rainbow – one of the boldest visions in Bible despite the round-about way of speaking – ultimately it is the Lord – he is not where he should be (in Jerusalem) but in Babylonia visiting Ezekiel – God is with his people in the Exile – this is giving us a sense of looking into the Holy of Holies – this is a visionary entry into the Holy of Holies and glimpse of the Deity.

–30^th year – crucial year in the induction of a priest – maybe he was taken from Jerusalem before age of 30 – maybe he is having his prophetic/priesthood induction at age 30 in Babylon (the Throne Theophany may be a part of his priesthood initiation)

–this vision led Judaism to speculate about the Chariot – throne of God with wheels – provide mobility – merkavah (root of merkavah mysticism) – contemplations of “hashmal” – this led people to want to experience this type of vision – Rabbis warned against this type of speculation – put limitations on reading Ezekiel 1 (need to by 30 years old) – warned that one could be burned by fire for seeking this vision

–Christopher Rowland in Open Heaven – apocalyptic literature is not so much about eschatalogical chronology but about the vision of heaven

Chs. 8-11 – back in the temple and its precincts – vision of the fiery being again – carried him by his hair to Jerusalem – this is before the temple was actually destroyed – this is a visionary experience – he knew the temple setting like the back of his hand – sees grounds for the departure of Kavod (Glory of God) from the temple – very bleak scene of what’s going on at temple is depicted – this is what causes departure

–Shown seat of the image of Jealousy – what is this image? The language evokes the image of a creator – a deity creation figure? Statue of alien deities?  — these are painted as negative, but may have been legitimate earlier

–Ezek 11:16 – I have been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they are – a “small sanctuary” – the God of Israel himself has become a temple (mikdash me’at) – this is an interesting idea centuries before Christ – temple is wherever you are – its not about a particular place in Jerusalem – it can be wherever you are in the world

–but the rest of the book backs off from this idea – third vision

Chapters 40-48 – a vision of a restored temple

–set on a very high mountain – a structure of a city was there – angelic guide

–commonly thought to be a vision of the restoration of the temple

–God returns to his temple in Glory – returns from the East – goes through east gate – glory of the Lord filled temple

–what happened to 2^nd vision? The particular place of the temple is never left behind, but people can have temple “in small measure” wherever they’re at

–in our days, we see return of Jews to that particular place, but many still live internationally

–are these chapters a blueprint for the restored temple? – are they modelled on temple that Ezekiel knew? Doesn’t match other biblical descriptions, but most likely related to First Temple – very precise dimensions given – visionary combined with the pedantically particular – there is some ambiguity – kind of a flat plan, no vertical measurements – Second Temple doesn’t match this description – is it to be a fture eschatalogical temple? Theological imagination and aspiration (details don’t matter?) Tuell argues that this should be seen in line with chapter 1, that this is the heavenly temple – 25^th: he is seeing God’s temple in heaven

–ch. 41:17ff. – in the nave there was a pattern of cherub—palm tree–-cherub carved on the door

ch. 47 water flowing from below south threshold of the temple – flows east through desert and then purifies dead sea – river of life from Eden – draws from a deep well of creation thinking – these themes are based on heavenly reality

–Q&A – Stephen Tuell and Silviu Bunta – research on ascent to heaven in Ezekiel

William Hamblin — “The Hidden Temple in John 17″

–Centrality of temple imagery in Gospel of John

John 17 should be contextualized within larger Passover narrative

–washing of feet was a temple ritual (John 13) – couldn’t ascend temple mount with dirty feet

–John 17 is transition point between mortal ministry and ascension to heaven

1. My Father’s house – in Father’s kingdom are many mansions – when he says “Father’s house” he is speaking of the temple – John 14:2 – there are many rooms in the temple and he will prepare one for them – he is not talking about the physical temple – If I go prepare a place for you, I will come and take you so that where I am you can be also

Where are you going and what is the way there? Thomas asking – the way is the Christian way – this is the original term for Christianity (“The Way”) – Heb 10: the new and everlasting way (way to the temple, through veil) – “Where I am” is with the Father

“Where I am” statements may be related to “I am” statements

–referring to heaven; heavenly temple

–Christians have largely lost mythos of heavenly temple

–Psalm 11:4

–Heb. 8-10, Revelation

2. Revelation of Name of the Father

–Christ was given Name of the Father and revealed it to disciples

–Exod 3:14 – revelation of name YHWH

–restriction on prnouncing name during Second Temple period – so we get Adonai/Kyrios in Second Temple times – then ha-Shem

–not supposed to “take the name of God in vain” – initially you couldn’t “blaspheme” the name, but later you couldn’t pronounce the name at all

–only high priest could pronounce it on the Day of Atonement – they whispered or mumbled it so that others could not hear – it could only be said in secret in the temple

–we should understand that Jesus was sharing the name in this context – like Moses, God revealed the name to Jesus – to reveal the name to others, he needed to be claiming to act with priestly authority, and he does – the text doesn’t tell us what the name was – was Father the name that was revealed?

3. Christ as manifestation of God’s glory

John 17:1 – glorify the Son – glory = brightness, splendor – LXX uses doxa to translate kavod – Kavod YHWH is the visible manifestation of God in the temple/tabernacle – blazing fire/light enshrowded in cloud – Kavod was so glorious that it caused Moses’ face to glow – Christ is the Kavod

Christ had glory before the world was; Father gives glory to son, who gives it to disciples; many mentions of glory/glorification in John 17; mutual glorification of Father, Son and disciples; mutual oneness; disciples will be with Jesus in heaven where they will see his full glory – theophany in celestial temple

4. Expulsion of the evil one

Azazel – scapegoat – expelled from community of Israel – atonement

17:15 – protect disciples from the evil one – ho poneros – asks that the ruler of this world be cast out – this is related to the scapegoat ritual

5. Sanctification of Christ and Disciples

–anything associated with temple must be holy – washing and donning clean garments – everything involved in rituals needs to be consecrated – qadesh = to make holy –

John 17:17–19 – sanctify the disciples – Christ sanctifies himself first – this is what the high priest does on the Day of Atonement – first offering is to sanctify the priest himself – then he can sanctify the community – this language would have invoked

6. Celestial ascent and unification

v. 20 – that they may be one just as you are in me and I in you – the glory you have given me, I have given to them – that we may be one

–tht they may be with me where I am that they may see my glory

–17:22 – that they may be one even as we are one – necessary prerequisite for unification

–Christ is not fully glorified unitl after ascent – the temple is the place where the glory is seen – in celestial temple – tradition of heavenly ascent – John has vision of heavenly temple, as does Paul –

vv. 21-22 – unification – Early Christians believed that this had to do with theosis/deification – Rev. 3:21 sit down on throne with God – idea of “synthronos” comes up frequently and is an allusion to deification – seeing the glory of the Lord transforms us into that glorious image

1 John – when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we will see him as he is

2Pet 1:4 – partakers of the divine nature

–ultimate goal of Christian theosis –

disciples to go to celestial temple to see Christ’s glory

Temple mythos is foundational to John 17 – Lord’s high priestly prayer – it is hidden to us because we have lost Temple mythos

—-

M. Barker comments:

Prov. 29:18 – where there is no vision, the people unravel

Book of Revelation is the happy fulfillment to the high priestly prayer (of John 17) — and people still say they were written by different authors!

I had the great honor and privilege of working with other St Andrews grad students, including Dan Batovici, Beth Tracy, Kathleen Burt, Allen Jones, and Ryan Mullins, on the organizing committee and, IMHO, the effort was a great success!  We had a lot of fun and got to meet some wonderful people. I think it was a pleasant experience for all involved.

Because I was often involved in administrative concerns I didn’t get much chance to take the kind of notes that I would have like to. Hopefully I’ll be able to provide some insights into what was said and what I learned in the near future.

We had four illustrious keynote speakers (all from right here in St Andrews):

• Prof. Kristin De Troyer
• Prof. James R. Davila
• Prof. N. T. Wright
• Dr. Mark W. Elliott

Here is the program for the conference (originally posted here, the actual order ended up being slightly different):

Wednesday 15th June

9.00 am: Kristin de Troyer, On Reconstructing the History of the Biblical Text (St Mary’s College Hall)

Session 1 (all session are held in the Senior Common Room)

10.00: Steven Harvey (Durham), Who is (are) ‘your teacher(s)’?   Hearing the voice of the prophet in Isaiah 30:18–26

10.30: Mark Stirling (St Andrews), The Davidic Temple Builder: Zechariah 6:13–15 as neglected background to Ephesians 2:11–22

11.00: Ben Johnson (Durham), Reading Septuagintal Narrative Texts as Translated Narratives: 1 Reigns 16 as an Example

11.30: coffee/tea

12.00: Michael J. Thate (Durham), The Effusive Presence Memory, Performance and the People of God (Michael was not able to be present at the conference — I read his paper for him)

12.00: Kerry Lee (Edinburgh), The Not Not Inglorious Death of Samson

1.00 pm: Lunch

2.00: N. T. Wright, Scripture and God’s Authority: Case Studies and Further Questions (St Mary’s College Hall)

Session 2 (SCR)

3.00: Martin G. Ruf (Utrecht), Elective affinities? Second Peter’s reception of Paul

3.30: Frederik Mulder (Radboud), The reception of Paul’s understanding of resurrection and eschatology in the Epistle to Rheginos: Faithful Paulinism, or further development?

4.00: Rebekah M. Devine (St Andrews), Made With Hands: The Gods of the Nations in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians

4.30: coffee/tea

5.00: Moshe Blidstein (Oxford), Between Ritual and Moral Purity: Early Christian Views on Dietary Laws

5.30: Andrew Talbert (Nottingham), Poiesis, Aesthesis, and Catharsis: The Aesthetic Experience of Reading ‘the Day of the Lord’ with the Fathers

6.00: Michael A. Clark (Birmingham), The Catena of the Gospel of John by Nicetas of Heraclea

6.30: Academic Drinks reception (St Mary’s College Hall)

Thursday 16th June

9:00 am: James Davila, Quotations from the Lost Books in the Hebrew Bible (St Mary’s College Hall)

Session 3 (SCR)

10.00:   David J. Larsen (St Andrews), After the Order of Melchizedek: Royal Themes and Melchizedek Traditions Applied to Jesus by the Author of Hebrews

10.30: Beniamin Pascut (Cambridge), Jesus and the Jewish Diviner: The Use and Misuse of 4QPrNbr

11.00: Albertina Oegema (Gröningen), The Reception of Isa 40:15 in 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch and Pseudo-Philo

11.30: coffee/tea

12.00: Nicholas Ellis (Oxford), The Jobraham Narratives – A Synthetic Tradition of Trial and Faithfulness

12.30:   Fiona Kao (Cambridge), ‘Fear not this tormentor’: Maccabean Predecessors and Eusebian Martyrs

1.00 pm: lunch break

2.00: Mark W. Elliott, The promise and threat of “Reception”, with reference to patristic interpretation of texts in Hebrews and Ephesians (St Mary’s College Hall)

2.45: coffee/tea

Session 4 (SCR)

3.00: Dan Batovici (St Andrews), Irenaeus’ Hermas

3.30: David L. Cann (KCL), The Holy Spirit in the Early Church: A search for the roots of the Trinitarian theology of the Holy Spirit

4.00: Marijana Vuković (CEU), Anonymous Late Antique Martyrdom Narratives: The Issues of Genre, Imitation, Narratological Patterns (Marijana wasn’t able to be present, but we watched her presentation on YouTube and then conducted a Q&A session with her via Skype — thanks to the technological prowess of Allen Jones)

4.30: coffee/tea

5.00: Justin A. Mihoc (Durham), The Reception and Interpretation of the Lucan Ascension of Christ in the Pre-Nicene Period

5.30: Kevin J. Haley (Notre Dame), Augustine’s Enarrationes and the Final Form of the Psalter

6.00: Academic Drinks reception (St Mary’s College Hall)

Symposium V will be held on Saturday 2 July 2011, 10am-4pm at the Temple Church, London. For more details, please see the TSG website: http://www.templestudiesgroup.com/Symposia.htm

As the International SBL meeting is being held the following week, also in London, anyone attending ISBL should make sure that they do not miss out on the opportunity to attend the Temple Studies symposium as well!

LDS readers will be interested to note that BYU Professor William Hamblin will be giving a paper at this symposium (see below).  This is very exciting, as Prof. Hamblin has done a ton of outstanding work on the Temple. I am very excited to hear what he has to say! I am also very much looking forward to hearing from Margaret Barker (as always) and also Paul Joyce (from Oxford).

(FYI, LDS speakers at past symposiums include: John Welch, John Hall, and Rick Huchel)

The following is the program for this symposium, including the stellar line-up of speakers.

The Temple Hidden in the Bible

Please note there will be a short comfort break after each session.

From 9.30: Registration and coffee or juice

10.00: Welcome

10.10: Dr Scott Mandelbrote, Cambridge: Images of the Temple in Early Printed Bibles.

11.15: Dr Margaret Barker: The Temple Hidden in Kings and Chronicles

12.15: Dr Paul Joyce, Oxford: The Hidden Temple in Ezekiel

Lunch

2.00: Dr David Shepherd, Chester: Temple and Messiah in the Targum of Isaiah

3.00: Dr William Hamblin, Provo: The Hidden Temple in John 17.

4.00 Wine or juice.

The obvious conclusion is that the prophets knew what they were talking about. Gay parenting isn’t good for kids.

But the obvious conclusion may not be the right one. To the extent that male and female homosexuality has a genetic component (still largely uncertain, especially for women), then all this study might be showing is that hereditary happens. Second, if there is an association between homosexuality, especially female homosexuality, and having been abused as a child or otherwise suffered psychological trauma, then all the study about homes breaking up shows is that people with psychological problems don’t make the most stable of parents. And/or are more likely to create kids with psychological problems.

Put not your trust in princes, the scriptures say. “Studies” are the princes of the modern world. While it reassures when studies back up the teachings of the prophets, we must never forget that the human world is actually extremely difficult to study. If it were easier, we might not need prophets.

From http://www.templestudiesgroup.com/Symposia.htm:

Symposium V will be held on Saturday 2 July 2011, 10am-4pm. Since 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the subject will be The Temple Hidden in the Bible.

• Dr Paul Joyce [Oxford] Images of the first Temple hidden in Ezekiel.

• Dr David Sheppard [Chester] The Temple hidden in the Isaiah Targum.

• Dr Scott Mandelbrote [Cambridge] Temple images in early printed Bibles.

• Dr Margaret Barker The Temple in Kings and Chronicles.

I first became aware of Professor Segal’s work while an MA student at Marquette University, when my advisor, Andrei Orlov, introduced me to his book, Two Powers in Heaven, the classic treatise on the early Rabbinic debates over the tradition that there were two celestial beings that were enthroned in heaven instead of YHWH alone. I subsequently read his book Paul the Convert, which, in my opinion, is one of the best books ever written on Paul, especially (for my interests) because it stresses the roots of Paul’s training in a Judaism that had mystical tendencies.

I thank Professor Segal for his foundational work on the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism program unit at SBL, which I had the privilege of presenting at in 2009.  He, together with April DeConick, Jim Davila, and Christopher Morray-Jones, launched this unit back in 1996, and it has been the forum for many important discoveries and advances in the field ever since.  My own learning in this area has been immensely enhanced because of the diligent efforts of Professor Segal and his colleagues.

For more on the monumental work of Alan Segal, please see Jim Davila’s blog post here.  Prof. Davila has a number of links to other blog posts from many of Segal’s friends and colleagues.

Authoritative Texts and Reception History

Aspects and Approaches

15-16 June 2011

With an emphasis on textual reception history, the first St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies is aimed at graduate students and early career scholars. Contributors are welcomed from the following fields of research: Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and Early Christianity.

Information about registration will soon be posted here. You can download the conference poster from here.

We have four invited plenary speakers:

Prof. Kristin De Troyer

Prof. James R. Davila

Prof. N. T. Wright

Dr. Mark W. Elliott

Conference sessions will be chaired by plenary speakers followed by papers grouped by topic.

Papers will be 20 minutes. Deadline to send in your 250-word abstracts is 15 March 2011. Abstracts should be e-mailed to StAnGCBECS@gmail.com

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Presence and use of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in the New Testament
• Early reception of the New Testament
• Interpretation of Biblical texts in Early Christianity
• Circulation of authoritative texts and/or their manuscripts
• Old Testament / Hebrew Bibles and New Testament textual versions
• Themes from the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible in the Pseudepigrapha
• Scriptural exegesis in the DSS, Qumran, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha
• Scriptural texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls
• The Pseudepigrapha and Early Christian interpretation of Scripture

It is intended that selected papers will be published.

I don’t think I’d be able to list all those who I met and talked with (I’m afraid I’d inadvertently leave someone out), but I’ll try to share here what sessions I attended and who I heard give presentations. I hope to follow this up in the near future with what notes I took from these sessions. Unfortunately my notes are not especially extensive this year as the capacity of my laptop’s battery is apparently decreasing (it lasts only 1.5 hours on low-power setting).

You should also check out Jim Davila’s PaleoJudaica.com, where he posts his “RANDOM SBL 2010 REFLECTIONS AND LINKS” — he has links to a number of other blogs by scholars who were at the conference.

Some of the best sessions that I attended were those of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism group. I have attended the sessions of this group since my first SBL in San Diego (2007), following the lead of my MA advisor, Andre Orlov, and my current supervisor, Jim Davila.  The group’s first session, Saturday morning, focused on reviews of two books: Peter Schafer’s The Origins of Jewish Mysticism and Guy Williams’ The Spirit World in the Letters of Paul the Apostle – I have read neither of these books, but after listening to the reviews at the session, I am very interested in both.  Although Peter Schafer himself was not there, we heard some well-written reviews from Jim Davila and Seth Sanders. Rebecca Lesses was there, but didn’t give a presentation — not sure what happened there. I posted a link to the text of Davila’s review here.  As I said there, the review was awesome and really took Schafer to task for taking lightly the possibility of real experience/praxis as a background to what was going on in these texts. Davila asked: “Why was Hekhalot literature written?” He explained that it consists of manuals that readers can use to obtain divine revelations, mystical experience, mastery over spirits–ritual practices that were intended to be used. He argued that we must grasp this notion in order to understand these texts–this was point of his book Descenders to the Chariot. Schafer minimizes these elements of the text.

The theme of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism’s Sunday session was: “Possible Provenances of Merkavah Mysticism.”

• The first paper was Jonathan Knight’s on “The Transformation of Merkabah Mysticism in Early Christianity” (read by Silviu Bunta). Knight argues that the early Christian text “The Ascension of Isaiah” was written in the early 1st Century CE, likely before the Gospel of John, and must have had influence on the early Christians’ Christology. This text is like the Jewish merkabah mystical texts and this tradition was very influential for Christians. In the text, Isaiah ascends to the seventh heaven, gaining greater glory as he passes each heaven. He is temporarily transformed into an angelic glory in order to be able to behold the vision. In the highest heaven, he sees three Divine Beings, including the Beloved One and the Holy Spirit (seen in angelic form). In one recension of the text, Isaiah even briefly glimpses the Great Glory (the Father). This text gives us a good example of an early mainstream Christian view — the text is not secondary or peripheral to the Christian tradition.
• After this paper, Bunta then read his own, entitled “The Convergence of Adamic and Merkabah Traditions in the Christology of Hebrews.” This was a great paper — Bunta argues that the Book of Hebrews describes a temple ritual in which Christ takes his followers to the heavenly sanctuary to participate in heavenly cult (heavenly ascent). He described how the text depicts Jesus as behind the veil of the temple. Jesus leads worshipers through the temple curtain and into the Holy of Holies, the rest of the Lord, where the throne of God and that of the Eternal High Priest are set. All of this is done as part of the early Christians’ ritual praxis — a ritual ascent to heaven. Bunta argues that many of the references to Christ draw on ancient Adamic traditions — Adam is the High Priest, the Son of God, the image of God, the Kavod, the one who sits on the Throne.  The angels were ordered to worship Adam (Testament of Adam, compare Heb. 1:6). Christ is the Heavenly Adam that became the earthly Adam.
• Jack Levison then gave a generally positive review of Bogdan Bucur’s (a Marquette grad) book, Angelomorphic Christology. The main idea in this complex, but important study is that many early Christians attributed to the Holy Spirit angelic characteristics (for example, in the Ascension of Isaiah, the Spirit looks like an angel). Also, the Spirit works through, or manifests itself in the angels (especially the seven principal ones) — according to Clement, these angels represent the Holy Spirit.

Sunday evening, the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism group held a gathering/reception for Hebrew University Professor Rachel Elior. It was a nice, informal meeting (there were 8-10 of us there initially) in which Prof Elior was presented with a Festschrift in her honor, celebrating her influential work in Jewish studies, including Jewish mysticism.  Elior was very kind and gracious — someone who has a big heart, who loves the subjects of her research and loves to share with and help others.  I was able to speak with her and expressed my thanks to her for her influence on me through her book, The Three Temples. Another LDS PhD student, Matthew Grey, was also there — his work on post-70 AD Jewish priestly circles has also been influenced by her research. The Festschrift was put together by Andre Orlov and Daphne Arbel and contained contributions from many great scholars in the field. For more on this, see Rebecca Lesses blog post, here.

As it is very late and I am still rather jet-lagged, I will have to continue this report later (hopefully soon).

We cannot understand texts by simply reading them

–Mainstream Christianity is being converted into an ethical humanism–we are moving away from doctrines like the resurrection. The liturgy is being converted into an opportunity for celebration of ethical humanism–this is nothing short of a blasphemy. Souls need to understand the way the doors of eternity open (through the liturgy).

Written texts demand traditions of interpretation – most sacred things  need to be kept secret and are not written down. In the  liturgical texts of the Catholic Church, the Father has resolved the Fall of Adam. How does this flesh become eternal? Through what means are we resurrected? (These are answered in the liturgy)

Modern theology doesn’t understand priesthood – who is the priest?  What does priesthood effect? I (Dr Hemming) have learned much about the priesthood from my friends among the Latter-day Saints. Who does the Melchizedek Priesthood concern? Priesthood re-conciliates heaven to earth – provides a way for the fallen to  be before the throne of God continually – it is a means to theosis. It is the means given for us to return to God.

But priesthood is not mentioned in Genesis. In the  Testament of Adam, we read ”Adam, Adam do not fear, you wanted to be a god, and I will make you a god, but not now.”  Adam is speaking to Christ.

The Book of Treasures specifically says that Adam is a priest  — a high priest.

Adamic priesthood is linked to Aaronic priesthood – to be vested in gold garments of Onyx.

Both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods are at work in the sacrifice of Abraham –- Levitical priesthood makes visible the works of the Melchizedek/Heavenly priesthood. The sacrifice on the earth parallels the sacrifice in heaven.

The Priesthood should be understood through the liturgical texts.

The Adamic/Levitical priesthood is how we offer gifts to God – the Melchizedek priesthood is how God translates our gifts into higher heavenly gifts.

The parts of the liturgy that have been removed are the parts that originally were not to be written down  — they weren’t written down until the Middle Ages, so people now think they were a late addition – but they weren’t meant to be shared.

In the liturgy, there used to be a “preparatory” sacrifice before the Eucharistic sacrifice. (The preparatory sacrifice representing the earthly/Levitical Priesthood and the Eucharistic sacrifice representing the heavenly/Melchizedek Priesthood) There are two different kinds of priesthood at work here. There is one that remains and one that was lost and needs to be restored. I desire that my church would restore this full understanding.

The bishop is meant to be a high priest.

—————————-

This was a fantastic paper and I apologize that my notes simply do not do it justice. I would be very pleased to see Dr Hemming continue with this research and look forward to his further results in the future.

To see the paper, visit the Temple Studies Group website here.

The Targums reveal to us what Jews thought, how they interpreted the Scriptures. The Aramaic Targumim emphasize that Adam was created from temple material   –   created from dust from the temple and the four winds.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Gen. 2:7: And the Lord God created Adam with two inclinations (y’tzarim); and He took dust from the place of the House of the Sanctuary, and from the four winds of the world, and [made a] moulding from all the waters of the world. And He created him red, black, and white, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the breath became in the body of Adam a speaking spirit for enlightenment of eyes and attentiveness of ears.

The Temple is a place of reconciliation with the Almighty. Adam was created as a “speaking being”

–“Dust of the ground” – what does this mean? The defined noun “the ground” may be significant –

–Altar of earth (ha-adamah)  should be made – Adam created from the same soil as the altar, the place of atonement (Jerusalem Talmud)

–Part of Adam’s constitution was taken from the Holy of Holies (inferred by Targum)

–from Holy Place and also from all corners of earth –particular and universal – he is a sort of representative of all mankind

–Targums have a very positive outlook on Adam

–God “fashioned” Adam in Gen. – but Aramaic translator insists that he was created –emphasizing that God was not a second-rate creator – (cf. the Gnostic view) — He was the Most High

–Gen.  2:8 – Eden was created  before the world – miqqedem = ‘from of old’

–Temple is also created before the world (along with Torah and  Name of Messiah)

–Adam’s placement in Garden was pre-planned

T Ps-J, Gen. 2:8: Now there had been planted by the Word (Memra’) of the Lord God a garden from Eden for the just, before the creation of the world; and He made to dwell there Adam, when He had created him.

Adam was created on the Temple Mount –created to do temple service (labor)

–Adam created to keep the Torah/commandments

–he can act properly in the holy place because he is partially constituted by dust from that holy place

–No mention made of Adam’s fall at this point

–He is meant to keep Torah, but it is also the reason he is rejected, but it is by keeping Torah that he may return

–Targum interpreter knows of different versions of Creation story

–Noah offered sacrifice on Adam’s altar –  Abraham also

T Ps-J, Gen. 8:20: So Noah rebuilt the altar before the Lord. It was the altar which Adam had built in Eden at the time when he was cast out from the Garden of Eden; and on it he had offered up a sacrifice, and on it he had offered up a sacrifice; and on it Cain and Abel had offered up their sacrifice. And when the waters of the flood came down, it had been destroyed. Noah rebuilt it…

–These are details that are not in the original Hebrew – Eden continues to be important –service of temple takes people back to Eden (text

–Adam led into the Garden of Eden by Lord

–Sacrifices are made in Eden – we must go back to Eden to make atonement

Psalm 69 – rabbis claim it was uttered by Adam

–When the Targum was written down, the temple was in ruins(see text 7) – things to be restored in the world to come – restoration of Eden

T Ps-J, Gen. 2:15: And the Lord God took Adam from the mountain of the Service (pwlchn’), the place from where he had been created, and made him dwell in the Garden of Eden, so as to be serving (plch) in the Torah and observing its commandments.

–Gen. 3:18–19 – Adam cursed by God for disobedence – thorns and thistles, eat herb, sweat of face will eat bread – this is the food given to animals (herbs of the field) – King Nebuchadnezzar turned to animal – but by honest labor, Adam would eat bread –distinguished civilized from uncivilized. Adam is to eat food after the manner of the animals – because your face trembled, you shall eat bread – fear that he should be as the animals  — in Targum there is a prayer that he would be able to stand upright and labor – you stand in the temple, you stand before the Lord, you pray standing up – you can’t approach God on all fours like an animal – if you can stand, you can serve God in His Temple

–Adam is rescued from a physical fall, in which he was condemned to eat like animals – redeemed to be able to stand in temple

(Margaret Barker, in response to my question, says that the Book of Daniel motif of falling to ground and then being stood upright by angel follows this same motif)

–you shall stand up from the dust and then return to dust and then rise again to give judgement in the last day (return to the temple) Targum to Gen 3:18–19

–Israel in Egypt is as Adam was after his fall – their backs are bent down (like animals) and they are slaves to a foreign king – they are drawn out (of Egypt and from the waters of the Red Sea) and enter the avodah of the temple

When you don’t have access to the temple, you are in darkness.