Ritual Retelling Of Biblical Narrative In Lieu Of Temple Worship

[volgadon]

http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grbs/FTexts/48/Davies.pdf

This is an interesting article. The Mishnah Taanit 4:2 mentions that the creation account from Genesis was recited out loud in villages when their priests functioned at the temple. The article I've linked to shows how Ezekiel the Tragedian's play, the "Exagoge," used the Greek cultural medium of the tragedy in finding a substitute for the paschal sacrifice held at the temple. Alexandria was a long way from Jerusalem. The solution was a sacred performance (either recital or acting), indeed, a re-enactment of a scriptural narrative, using both Greek dramatic conventions and midrashic interpolations. I think this has implications for LDS temple worship as well, given the importance drama plays in it.

[Maidservant]

Like what implications?

[Maidservant]

The "sons of Levi" references in D & C came to my mind also.

D & C13:1, 124:39, 128:24

[Maidservant]

Are you saying that our temple worship is a "distance sacrifice" relative to Jerusalem either literally or figuratively or both?

[mfbukowski]

Like what implications?

It shows an early association between the narrative of the creation story and temple sacrifice, and the fact that the narration was seen as a substitute for sacrifice I think exactly parallels the temple ceremony.

The story of the creation and fall becomes a "similitude" for the sacrifice itself. Does that help explain it?

Amazing association Volgadon!

[volgadon]

Like what implications?

What MFB said. This shows an early tendency to retell a sequence from sacred history instead of or in addition to the sacrificial cult of the temple.

Exodus after all echoed the creation story. You might call it the (re)creation of Israel. Other interesting elements that Ezekiel included in his play were Moses being enthroned in heaven and an encounter with a phoenix, representing not only rebirth, but also entry into a paradisical spot.

[Hamilton Porter]

Thanks for the article. Somehow we need to translate this into language to inform people against that those redneck-baiting Evangelical sites that say the LDS temple is completely different from the Levitical temple.

[David T]

Hasn't a recreation of the Creation account (albiet the early version, with the conquering of Leviathan by YHWH) been thought to be a part of Kingly coronation/New Year's rituals?

[Hamilton Porter]

Hasn't a recreation of the Creation account (albiet the early version, with the conquering of Leviathan by YHWH) been thought to be a part of Kingly coronation/New Year's rituals?

Yes. Jacob's New Year's speech had Leviathan-conquest storm imagery in it and King Benjamin's had creation imagery.

[volgadon]

Hasn't a recreation of the Creation account (albiet the early version, with the conquering of Leviathan by YHWH) been thought to be a part of Kingly coronation/New Year's rituals?

Completely forgot about that. If indeed there was an Israelite equivalent of the Akitu festival, then such recreations would almost certainly have been included. Still, I like to be a little cautious as the whole thing is very speculative.

The Exagoge stands on solider ground. We know the author, the time and the milieu, as well as analogous practices in the Hellenistic world.

[volgadon]

Thanks for the article. Somehow we need to translate this into language to inform people against that those redneck-baiting Evangelical sites that say the LDS temple is completely different from the Levitical temple.

A couple of years ago, Bob Betts nearly had kittens when I quoted an excerpt from Othmar Keel's "The Symbolism of the Biblical World," on salvation gained via entry into the temple.

[CASteinman]

think this has implications for LDS temple worship as well, given the importance drama plays in it.

I won't go into details, but I have long thought that the account in Genesis was actually part of an ancient Ritual Ceremony. Your comment and link are interesting and valuable.

[volgadon]

I won't go into details, but I have long thought that the account in Genesis was actually part of an ancient Ritual Ceremony. Your comment and link are interesting and valuable.

Thanks. I think you might be interested in this. http://walkstar.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-point-exactly.html

[CASteinman]

Thanks. I think you might be interested in this. http://walkstar.blog...nt-exactly.html

Yes. Again interesting. I have never shared my views with others, but clearly I am not nearly as clever or inventive as I imagined or hoped as so many other people openly comment on such things. I will, I believe, still remain circumspect in public arenas.

[volgadon]

Yes. Again interesting. I have never shared my views with others, but clearly I am not nearly as clever or inventive as I imagined or hoped as so many other people openly comment on such things. I will, I believe, still remain circumspect in public arenas.

Circumspection is good. Just because an idea has occured to more than one person doesn't make you less clever or inventive. I once wrote a post on the daughters of the Lamanites and a Jewish holiday. I cam to my conclusions mainly based what I knew from personal experience- the holiday enjoyed a renaissance when I was a teenager- only to find that someone at FARMS had already written about it! Doesn't diminish the value of my thinking process.

[Mike Reed]

Very cool. Mystery cults of the 1st century are also quite interesting. Dying and rising figure is the general commonality.

[volgadon]

Very cool. Mystery cults of the 1st century are also quite interesting. Dying and rising figure is the general commonality.

I agree. It is actually something I've been doing a lot of reading on. Mystery cults, I mean. Off-topic, but have you read Henrik Bogdan's "Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation?" I started it the other day, Bogdan brings up a lot of interesting points on the role of the initiation experience and its interpretation in Masonry.

[Robert F. Smith]

Completely forgot about that. If indeed there was an Israelite equivalent of the Akitu festival, then such recreations would almost certainly have been included. Still, I like to be a little cautious as the whole thing is very speculative.

The Exagoge stands on solider ground. We know the author, the time and the milieu, as well as analogous practices in the Hellenistic world.

Jews certainly got to see the Akitu festival in Babylon.

The thing to ask is whether texts which many mainstream biblical scholars see as ritual, temple texts (Genesis 1-3, Song of Songs, Ruth, Job, many Psalms, etc.) were performed as pageants somewhere other than the temple, as with the Exagoge, and with medieval mystery plays. We have plenty of that sort of thing in Ugaritic and other ancient Near Eastern texts -- esp. in Egypt where the pageants were temple-centered, but could also take place as journeys of a god from one temple to another (sometimes even going by boat on the Nile). What about Israelite high places or bamot?

However, what did F. M. Cross mean in saying (Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, 1973):

Israel's religion emerged from a mythopoeic past under the impact of certain historical experiences which stimulated the creation of an epic cycle and its associated covenant rites of the early time. Thus epic, rather than the Canaanite cosmogonic myth, was featured in the ritual drama of the old Israelite cultus. At the same time the epic events and their interpretation were shaped strongly by inherited mythic patterns and language, so that they gained a vertical dimension in addition to their horizontal, historical stance. In this tension between mythic and historical elements the meaning of Israel's history became transparent.

[HiJolly]

Excellent thread! Thanks.

HJ

[Mike Reed]

have you read Henrik Bogdan's "Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation?" I started it the other day, Bogdan brings up a lot of interesting points on the role of the initiation experience and its interpretation in Masonry.

Yes. Bogdan's book is a good one.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Mike Reed

[volgadon]

Yes. Bogdan's book is a good one.

Do you have any similar titles you'd recommend?

[BookofMormonLuvr]

With these, apparent, parrallels between ancient practices and Mormon Temple liturgy, the question that I have is this...

Does this prove that the rituals associated with Mormonism are true?

or

Is it an indication that the LDS Church is repeating the same mistakes that ancient Israel did, by looking beyond the mark?

• Jacob 4:14
  14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
  

[volgadon]

With these, apparent, parrallels between ancient practices and Mormon Temple liturgy, the question that I have is this...

Does this prove that the rituals associated with Mormonism are true?

or

Is it an indication that the LDS Church is repeating the same mistakes that ancient Israel did, by looking beyond the mark?

• Jacob 4:14
  14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
  

There is a third option. Studying the use of ritualised drama in the religious context of the ancient world can provide additional depth into insights regarding LDS temple worship.

[volgadon]

Jews certainly got to see the Akitu festival in Babylon.

But was an equivalent performed in Israel and Judah in pre-exilic times, that is the question. Mowinkel and such have presented an interesting case, but it is still all to speculative.

The thing to ask is whether texts which many mainstream biblical scholars see as ritual, temple texts (Genesis 1-3, Song of Songs, Ruth, Job, many Psalms, etc.) were performed as pageants somewhere other than the temple, as with the Exagoge, and with medieval mystery plays. We have plenty of that sort of thing in Ugaritic and other ancient Near Eastern texts -- esp. in Egypt where the pageants were temple-centered, but could also take place as journeys of a god from one temple to another (sometimes even going by boat on the Nile). What about Israelite high places or bamot?

It seems very reasonable to suppose that sacred stories were performed. Shame there is a paucity in our data.

However, what did F. M. Cross mean in saying (Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, 1973):

Israel's religion emerged from a mythopoeic past under the impact of certain historical experiences which stimulated the creation of an epic cycle and its associated covenant rites of the early time. Thus epic, rather than the Canaanite cosmogonic myth, was featured in the ritual drama of the old Israelite cultus. At the same time the epic events and their interpretation were shaped strongly by inherited mythic patterns and language, so that they gained a vertical dimension in addition to their horizontal, historical stance. In this tension between mythic and historical elements the meaning of Israel's history became transparent.

Good quote. Haven't read the book in a while.

[volgadon]

With these, apparent, parrallels between ancient practices and Mormon Temple liturgy, the question that I have is this...

Is it an indication that the LDS Church is repeating the same mistakes that ancient Israel did, by looking beyond the mark?

• Jacob 4:14
  14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
  

Feel fry to explain why you think this refers to the ritual use of drama.