BACKGROUND OF JEWS 
(6/8/2019)
A little-known fact, but if one thinks about it, it becomes intuitively obvious, that ALL religions change over time. There have, for example, been many changes in the 2000 year old Catholic Church, and the people of Jesus’ day (1st Century AD) would be hard-put to recognize today’s Catholicism—or ANY form of today’s Protestantism—as being very representative of ‘their’ 1st Century AD understanding of Christianity.
Similarly, the Jews of today have a religion (Judaism) that is quite different from the form of Judaism practiced before the Babylonian captivity (585 BC). The form of Judaism in 1st Century AD Jerusalem was closer to today’s Judaism, but we cannot use today’s form of Judaism as being representative of Judaism of the time of Jesus, let alone at 600 years even earlier.
Why is this important? Simply because, the Book of Mormon peoples had a 600 BC form of Judaism as their religion until Jesus came. To understand the religion of the Book of Mormon people, we need to understand the form of Judaism in the 600 BC era–and NOT as Judaism is practiced today.
While a Jew of today might consider that Abraham was the ‘first Jew,’ I consider that view to be unrealistic. After all, the term, ‘Judaism’ derives from the name of Judah who was the fourth son of Jacob/Israel. Judah was the great-grandson of Abraham, so it would seem to me, that Judaism could not have started before Judah’s time. Judah himself, had practically no religion. He knew only that his father Jacob/Israel worshiped the God of Abraham and Isaac. If he knew any more than that, it is not recorded in the Bible. What the Bible does tell us, is that ‘the Law’ was given at Mount Sinai (during the Exodus) which was some 400+ years AFTER Jacob entered Egypt, AND it was given to ALL of Israel, not just to Judah. Thus, ‘the Law’ which is the true basis of Judaism, was not given until roughly 400 years AFTER the MAN named Judah died!
But if a Jew wants to place the beginning of his religion when God promised the childless Abraham that he would become the father of multitudes of peoples and nations, that is OK by me. But, I would like to point out that Abraham was NOT told that there was only ONE God. God told Abraham only to ‘worship Me’ and it wasn’t until Mount Sinai, roughly 500 years later, that Moses was told, ‘I am the Lord, your God…and you shall have no other Gods before me.’ Even then, Moses was not told that there was only one God—just that the Israelites were not to worship other gods. It wasn’t until the time of Isaiah (~700 BC) that we find the concept that all other gods were fashioned of wood, stone, or metal; were the handiwork of man, and were false gods, and, thus, there WAS only ONE God.
There was no concept of ‘six days shalt thou labor and on the seventh thou shalt rest,’ until Mount Sinai.
My point is that many of the very things that define Judaism of today did not start until Mount Sinai—at the time of the Exodus from Egypt.
One could argue that it was even later for the development of many of the other key factors of today’s Judaism. Nevertheless, almost all of the traditions of today’s Judaism DO have roots in the Law which is outlined in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy so in that sense, those traditions may be seen as dating as far back as Mount Sinai. Nevertheless, many Jewish traditions are not to be found in the Bible AS JUDAISM IS PRACTICED TODAY. It was during the Babylonian captivity that learned men called ‘rabbis’ replaced the Temple priests. Up to that time, all religious practices in the Kingdom of Judah were in the form of sacrifices that were conducted by the priests who were Levites, descendants of Aaron in (Solomon’s) Jerusalem Temple which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 585 BC.
Synagogues did not exist until the Babylonian Captivity. Synagogues were local areas of worship that replaced the centralized Temple worship of pre-Babylonian Judaism in 600 BC. We know from the Bible, that Jesus worshiped in both regional synagogues AND the rebuilt (Herod’s) Temple, but there were no synagogues at all in 600 BC.
The priests of King David’s time until the Captivity were descendants of Zadok, a Levite priest.
The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees of Jesus’ day were NOT descendants of Zadok (or any other Levite) and those Jewish sects did not exist in pre-Babylonian Judaism, but the Pharisees were the forerunners of today’s rabbis.
The Book of Mormon gives little in the way of information about how the Nephites practiced the form of Judaism they inherited when they left Jerusalem around 600 BC. It says only that they practiced the Law of Moses without providing details on the rites associated with that practice.
[This may seem surprising, but the same thing is true in the Bible. Only the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy include details of practicing the ‘The Mosaic Law,’ or the rites involved in the practice of sacrifices in the Tabernacle and later, in the Temple. It might well have been that these detailed facts were so well known by the populations to whom they were writing, that the authors had no reason to do more than obliquely refer to such details.]
In Alma 14 (chapter 25, LDS), about mid-way in their 1000 year history (but still around 100 years BEFORE the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem), we find an interesting three successive verses, each of which refers to the ‘Law of Moses’ TWICE.
74….and they did walk in the ways of the Lord, and did observe to keep his commandments, and his statutes, yea, and they did keep the Law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the Law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. 75But notwithstanding the Law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the Law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances, until the time that he should be revealed unto them. 76Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the Law of Moses; but the Law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; [Alma 14:74-76, CofChrist; 25:15-16 LDS]
There are many, many references to the ‘Law of Moses’ in the Book of Mormon. I selected this example for three reasons: First, it illustrates the importance of the Law of Moses to the Nephites; Second, it is a good example of a chiasm from the Book of Mormon [See Chiasms link AND the link to the Fourth Reason for Testimony of Christ], and Third, it shows that in spite of the Nephites knowing of the coming of Jesus as early as 600 BC, they continued to follow their form of Judaism (based on the Law) until the coming of the Christ.
CHIASTIC Structure of Alma 14:74-76
A and they did walk in the ways of the Lord, and did observe to keep his commandments, and his statutes, yea, and they did keep the Law of Moses;
B for it was expedient that they should keep the Law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled.
C 75But notwithstanding the Law of Moses,
D they did look forward to the coming of Christ, [focus]
C’ considering that the Law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances, until the time that he should be revealed unto them.
B’ 76Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the Law of Moses;
A’ but the Law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ.
Some Jews of today, reject the Book of Mormon because they believe that IF the BOM were a genuine record, today’s practices of Judaism should be reflected in the Book of Mormon. As we have seen, that is an unrealistic expectation. The Jews of 600 BC kept the Sabbath and offered blood sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem. THAT was the Judaism that the Book of Mormon people knew. The Judaism of today is nothing like that of the pre-Babylonian conquest Judaism.
The Book of Mormon people kept the Sabbath. The book of Mosiah has two places mentioning the Sabbath. In the first he is quoting from the brass plates (the Book of Mormon equivalent of the Hebrew Bible):
116Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
117Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
118For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea and all that in them is: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. [Mosiah 7:116-118. CofChrist; 13:16-19, LDS]
And a couple of chapters later, Mosiah reminds his people of the importance of the Sabbath with the telling of the story of the prophet Abinadi:
56And he commanded them that they should observe the Sabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God. [Mosiah 9:56, CofChrist; 18:23, LDS]
The Book of Mormon mentions blood sacrifice in only two verses. When Jesus appeared to the people, he gave them a new commandment regarding their practice of blood sacrifices:
49And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings; and ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. [III Nephi 4:49, CofChrist; 9:19, LDS]
About 100 years before Jesus was born, the righteous King Benjamin called his people together as he was about to give up the throne to his son, King Mosiah II. Benjamin related a prophecy of Jesus’ coming that he said was given to him by an angel.
93For behold, I have things to tell you, concerning that which is to come; and the things which I shall tell you, are made known unto me, by an angel from God.
94And he said unto me, Awake; and I awoke, and behold, he stood before me.
95And he said unto me, Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee: for behold, I am come to declare unto thee glad tidings of great joy.
96For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.
97For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven, among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay,
98And shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases;
99And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
100And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death;
101For behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people….
107For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died, not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned….
113And yet they hardened their hearts, and understood not that the law of Moses availeth nothing, except it were through the atonement of his blood;….
115For behold as in Adam, or by nature they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins….
118But men drink damnation to their own souls, except they humble themselves, and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent: [Mosiah 1:93-101, 107, 113, 115, 118; CofChrist; 3:2-7, 11, 15, 16, 18, LDS]
Jesus is the Christ! There are six Jesus characters in the CT. In three of those six characters the character stands alone (C6, G10, G22). In the other three, Jesus is a part of a composite character. In C15, the character says, ‘Jesus Lord testimony plates’ and this is the name of a specific set of plates containing a very special testimony of Jesus. As I understand the text, these plates were Moroni’s abridgement of the Jaredite record that was translated from the Jaredite language by King Mosiah approximately 500 years before Moroni’s time. Anyone who wants to know of this remarkable event is directed to the book of Ether, chapter 1 (CofChrist, chapters 1-4, LDS). This is a very long account, but start at about verse 1:43 and read to at least verse 81 (2:16-3:16, LDS). Look for the experience of the Brother of Jared who saw the Lord in the flesh many hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
THIS is the message that Moroni
wanted to convey to the Jews when he wrote of
the Book of Mormon as being a testimony to the Jews.
{Link to earlier graphic/text from FIRST testimony, this document, pp 5,6. [Following is a copy and it might be better to link to it and come back here to continue this topic.]}
JESUS CHARACTORS
[Refer to the previous graphic for examples.]
Jesus paired with Christ: Jesus Christ combination by itself is at F1 (but the full meaning of F1 is: “Jesus Christ Lord of”. This is the only location of the combination, ‘Jesus Christ.’
A partial translation of characters F1 through F5 (ignoring an introductory phrase from the previous line} that this record is taken from the language of Nephi at the end of line E) contains this transliterated phrase:
Jesus Christ Lord of [F1] testimony [F2] Judah [F3] people [F4] of the king heir Lord [F5]
which I interpret as meaning in English,
“a testimony to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
“a testimony [F2] to the Jews [F3/F4] that Jesus is the Christ [F1], the Son of God [F5].”
[END of copy of pp 5,6 of this document]
Jesus also appeared to the Book of Mormon people and explained why the sacrifices of the Law were no longer required—Jesus HIMSELF had been the sacrifice and thus, HE had now completely fulfilled the law of sacrifice! ‘Old things had passed away!’ There was going to be no more need for sacrifice, for now, Jesus had made that sacrifice for all who would listen and follow Him.
3And it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words, he perceived that there were some among them who marveled, and wondered what he would concerning the Law of Moses; for they understood not the saying, that old things had passed away, and that all things had become new.
5Behold, I say unto you, that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses.
9For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people, is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses, hath an end in me. [III Nephi 7:3-9, CofChrist; 15:2-8, LDS]
So, the Book of Mormon provides the ‘good news’ to the Jews. It is indeed,
“a testimony to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”