I wish to repent of one of the oversights I missed on the earlier post on this subject. As I was discussing the Hebrew words for consecrate, male and yad, and how these two words create the phrase, "fill the hand," the Hebrew meaning of consecration, I failed to mention an important covenant relationship connected to this concept of "filling the hand."
At the three required feasts (Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, and Feast of Tabernacles), the Lord Jehovah commands the congregation of Israel to be gathered, and says unto them, "they shall not appear before the Lord empty" (Deuteronomy 16: 16). In other words, they come with their hands full, ready to make an offering to the Lord. I believe in my heart that as we come to make a presentation to the Lord, He receives our humble offering, and fills our hands with something greater than what we can offer to Him.
At one of these festival dates, during Passover (or Feast of Unleavened Bread), and on an Easter Sunday, the resurrected Lord appeared in the Kirtland Temple and restored priesthood keys. Anciently, and even currently among Jews, it was believed that Elijah would come during Passover time. The door was left open at the Passover feast and a table setting was prepared for Elijah's return. In fact, he was supposed to appear on the second day of Passover (or Pesach). And right on schedule he did appear in the Kirtland Temple on that day. Click here for a Hebrew calendar link to verify this date.
When these keys were given, the Lord makes the declaration, "Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors" (D&C 110: 16). The Lord fills our hands too.
In the Book of Mormon Jacob acts as a true priest. As a mediator, he exclaims, "And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day" (Jacob 1: 19).
Like the Savior, he takes upon himself the responsibility and weight of sin, which in effect, is put upon his head. Remember the anointing oil was put upon the priests' heads. Moses "poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him" (Leviticus 8: 12). The Savior first had His feet anointed to represent His kingly duties, such as His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (see John 12: 3, 12-16). Then, later that week, He had His head anointed to represent His priestly duties (see Mark 14: 3). Like the Savior, he was willing to answer to the Father to meet God's demands for justice. Like the Savior, he was willing to "labor with his might" to "work" out salvation for his people. Like the Savior, Jacob was a great doctrinal teacher.
But unlike the Savior, Jacob, as a priest, could not overcome the stain of blood.
The priest in ancient Israel performed ordinances and sacrifices on behalf of the people. When animals were sacrificed, the blood would sometimes stain the garments of the priest. On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) he would go into the tabernacle alone, make sacrifices, and sprinkle the blood of the bullock and also the blood of the goat of the sin offering upon the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. However, the blood could contaminate his clothing.
Jesus went alone into Gethsemane and bled from every pore.
Blood on the garments represents sin, especially violent crime, and especially in the Old Testament. Here are some scriptural examples.
"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
"He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil" (Isaiah 33: 14-15).
The "everlasting burnings" in this verse sounds perhaps like hell, however, Isaiah is actually speaking here of celestial glory. The Hebrew word for blood means blood-guiltiness.
"For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire" (Isaiah 9: 5).
"And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them" (3 Nephi 9: 5).
"And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?" (Alma 5: 22).
Perhaps the most obvious example is where Nephi testifies of the true murderer of the chief judge. Nephi reveals the murderer and for evidence says, "But behold, ye shall examine him, and ye shall find blood upon the skirts of his cloak" (Helaman 9: 31).
Blood seems to point to sin. That's because blood is the life-giving and life-taking agent which only God has the right to exercise control over. In Genesis and later Leviticus, the Lord gives man dominion over the plants and animals with one main restriction:
"But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat" (Genesis 9: 4: see also Leviticus 17: 11). In the latter verse, the Lord describes the blood as "the life of the flesh."
The drink offering became a part of certain sacrifices. It was wine poured on the altar symbolic of the blood Jesus spilled on the cross. And this became the distinction. God could absorb the blood as the life-giving agent, but the priest, as a mortal man, could not.
Those who stood in open rebellion against the Lord, like some of the Nephite apostates, were described as loving murder, and they would "drink the blood of beasts" (Jarom 1: 6). Amalickiah, who is a type of Satan in the Book of Mormon, "was exceedingly wroth, and he did curse God, and also Moroni, swearing with an oath that he would drink his blood" (Alma 49: 27). The Gadianton robbers counterfeited the covenant and were in open rebellion as they "had a lamb-skin about their loins, and they were dyed in blood, and their heads were shorn, and they had head-plates upon them; and great and terrible was the appearance of the armies of Giddianhi, because of their armor, and because of their being dyed in blood" (3 Nephi 4: 7).
It would be spiritually disastrous for Jacob, or any other priest, to have blood staining his raiment. However, Jesus describes His experience in Gethsemane and on the cross by saying, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment" (Isaiah 63: 3).
The anger and fury represent the divine verdict of pure justice. Absorbing the blood, sin, and violence, and taking it upon Himself to pay the price, becomes a pure act of mercy.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses entirely, and Jesus would make a statement in the Bread of Life Sermon which would shock His flock of followers. He said, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6: 54). This was like cultural whiplash. Hence, many of His followers went away and said, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" (verse 60).
This would appear on the surface to be a contradiction, or a reversal of doctrine. But I think the Lord is emphasizing the power of the covenant as He describes the sacrament by saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22: 20).
In that invitation I think there needs to be an inherent commitment and burning desire to follow Him and become like Him in every way.
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