Trivia question: What is "shewbread"?

Trivia question for New Testament Lesson 10: What is the “shewbread” (pronounced “showbread”) mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 12:3-4?

Jesus defended his and his disciples' actions when they picked some grain on the Sabbath as they traveled through the fields by comparing it to an event in the Old Testament in which David in a time of emergency ate shewbread from the temple, which was ordinarily reserved only for the priests (recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-6). By using this comparison, Jesus demonstrated that the law of charity overrides every ritual law – the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" he says in verse 4.

So just what is shewbread? It is the twelve cakes or loaves of bread which were continually present in the temple on the Table of Shewbread as an offering to God. In the shewbread the 12 tribes were perpetually presented before God. Each Sabbath fresh loaves replaced the old, which then belonged to the priests, who were required to eat them in a holy place (i.e. in the temple), since the bread was holy.

The name means “bread of the presence,” signifying that it was placed in the presence of Jehovah. The bread was made without leaven (so it would have been more like crackers than bread as we know it.) Leviticus 24:5-9 describes the requirements for making, stacking and eventually eating the shewbread.

The Shewbread was offered on behalf of the children of Israel as a “berit 'olam”, an “eternal, or everlasting, covenant”.

My Peace I Give Unto You

Having woken up in the middle of the night, I flipped on BYU TV and heard two wonderful talks by Elder David and Sister Susan Bednar, given at BYU Idaho in 2004. While the theme was based on John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”, the talks reinforce the theme of NT Lesson #10 to take upon us the yoke of Christ and we will be blessed with rest.

Here are the links:

Text of Elder Bednar's talk

MP3 of Elder Bednar's talk

Text of Sister Bednar's talk

MP3 of Sister Bednar's talk

Enjoy!

Ye Shall Find Rest Unto Your Souls

Isn’t the promise of “rest” wonderful? And isn’t it a wonderful feeling “to rest” when you are tired and worn out from something difficult? Just think about how good it feels to finally lie down in bed after a particularly tiring day – when all of the stress escapes from your body when your head hits the pillow.

I was amazed at how many different ways the word “rest” is used in English.

• to lean on for support, such as “rest, or relax, your arm on something”
  to be supported by, such as “the column rested on its pedestal”
• to lean or trust in something, such as “to rest on someone’s promise, be ‘rest assured’”
• to abide or remain with, such as “the spirit rested on him”
• to be calm or relaxed—not moving, such as “he was at rest”; or think of Newton’s first law: an object at rest tends to stay at rest

With all of these meanings for the word “rest”, what then is the “rest” spoken of by the Lord? Or thinking about it another way, when we speak of the “rest of the Lord” (which appears in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants) or “rest in the Lord” (which appears in Psalms), what kind of rest are we referring to? Certainly there is the “eternal” rest that we are all hoping for after this life.

“Eternal” rest: In the eternal sense, this rest is to gain the fulness of the Father. It is eternal life, living in the Celestial Kingdom.

President Harold B. Lee said: “Those of you who have lived a righteous life and die without having become the servants of sin, or who have truly repented of your sins, will enter into the "rest of the Lord," which rest "is the fulness of the glory of the Lord (D&C 84:24).”

But I think the Lord’s promise of rest is not just reserved for life after death – there is also a mortal rest that can come to us.

“Mortal” rest: We are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine – because we have firm testimonies.

President Joseph F. Smith taught how to achieve this rest: “The rest here referred to is not physical rest, for there is no such thing as physical rest in the Church of Jesus Christ. Reference is made to the spiritual rest and peace which are born from a settled conviction of the truth in the minds of men. We may thus enter into the rest of the Lord today, by coming to an understanding of the truths of the gospel.” (GD, 126.)

President Joseph Fielding Smith, reiterating what his father taught, added: [Entering into the rest of the Lord] means entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in his purpose and in his plan, to such an extent that we know we are right, and that we are not hunting for something else; we are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive. It is rest "from the cry that is going forth, here and there—lo, here is Christ; lo, there is Christ." (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 58, 125-126.)

Where mortals are concerned, the rest of the Lord comes from:

• understanding the gospel truths
• having faith in his purpose and his plan
• entering into the knowledge and love of God (having a testimony)

Only faithful members of the Church find perfect peace and rest to their souls. Achieving this status requires faith and hope. It includes gaining a perfect knowledge of the divinity of the Lord's work and the hope of eternal life in the world to come.

The Sabbath Was Made for Man

Commenting on how the Jews had lost the true spirit of the Sabbath, Elder McConkie wrote: "We have seen how they turned a day of freedom and worship and rejoicing into one of Rabbinical rules and restrictions. No longer were the Jews free to worship the Lord their God with a clear conscience on this holy day. Rather, the restrictions were so rigid, the controls so complete, the prohibitions so profuse, that it was as though man had been made for the Sabbath. Their failures on that day—for no man could keep all of the restrictions involved—created a great guilt complex over the whole nation." (Mortal Messiah, 2:398)

I had heard of many of the oral Rabbinical laws that had evolved as to what NOT to do on the Sabbath, but didn’t know whether they were true or not (such as how many steps someone could walk on the Sabbath). But after a simple web search, I found some details from the Midrash that clearly show how the Jews at the time of Christ, including the scribes and Pharisees, were no longer glorifying God through their Sabbath activities. They had laws regarding what kind of candles and wicks were to be used so that the light didn’t go out on the Sabbath, what kind of animals could be used on the Sabbath, and whether or not they may be bridled, and how shoes and other clothing were permitted to be worn.

But I was especially fascinated by the following restrictions:

(1) Traveling after sundown on the eve of the Sabbath: “One who (on the eve of Sabbath) is overtaken by the dusk on the road must give his purse to a Gentile (while it is yet day). If there is no Gentile with him, he must put it on the ass. As soon as he arrives at the outmost court (dwelling of the first town or village he reaches), he must take off all such things as may be handled on the Sabbath; and as for the things which must not be handled he must loosen the cords, so that they fall off themselves.”

(2) Food for animals: “It is forbidden to carry about chopped straw in quantities of a cow's mouthful, stalks in quantities of a camel's mouthful, stubble in quantities of a lamb's mouthful, herbs in quantities of a kid's mouthful, leek and onion leaves, if fresh, equal in size to a dried fig, and if dry in quantities of a kid's mouthful. The different kinds of fodder are, however, not to be counted together, as the prescribed quantities are not equal for all.”

(3) Forgetting it is the Sabbath when traveling in the desert: “One who has been traveling in a desert and does not know what day is Sabbath, must count six days from the day (on which he realizes) that he has missed the Sabbath, and observe the seventh. He must observe that very day and then continue his counting from that day.”

(4) And lastly, how items may be transferred from one person to another: “There are two acts constituting transfer of movable things (over the dividing line of adjoining premises, based on biblical statutes). … (1) A mendicant stands outside and the master of a house inside. The mendicant passes his hand into the house (through a window or door) and puts something into the hand of the master, or he takes something out of the master's hand and draws it back (toward him). In such a case the mendicant is guilty (of transfer) and the master of the house is free. If the master of the house passes his hand outside and puts a thing into the hand of the mendicant, or takes something out of the mendicant's hand and brings it into the house, the master of the house is culpable and the mendicant is free. (2) If the mendicant extends his hand into the house and the master takes something out of it, or puts something into it which is drawn to the outside by the mendicant, they are both free. If the master of the house extends his hand outside and the mendicant takes something out of it, or puts something into it which is drawn to the inside by the master, they are both free.”

How would the normal person be able to keep track of these – and the many other restrictions – for which the penalty of transgression was stoning?

Take My Yoke Upon You

One of the themes of NT lesson 10 comes from Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Most often this scripture is interpreted by referring to the yoke that joins two animals together so that they may share the load of whatever they are pulling. In fact, President Hunter used this metaphor in his General Conference talk, Come Unto Me, from October 1990. "In biblical times the yoke was a device of great assistance to those who tilled the field. It allowed the strength of a second animal to be linked and coupled with the effort of a single animal, sharing and reducing the heavy labor of the plow or wagon. A burden that was overwhelming or perhaps impossible for one to bear could be equitably and comfortably borne by two bound together with a common yoke. His [Christ's] yoke requires a great and earnest effort, but for those who truly are converted, the yoke is easy and the burden becomes light. ("Come Unto Me," Ensign, Nov. 1990, 17.)"

However, I would like to consider an additional interpretation of this scripture based on another type of yoke -- the type of yoke that the ancient Romans used to subjugate their conquered enemies in order to force them to march in subjection. Much like a mobile stockade, this type of yoke was intended to bind hands and arms, and sometimes head and neck. I can't help but imagine that since Jerusalem was subject to Rome at the time of Christ, that this type of yoke was just as common as a yoke that balances oxen. Even today, we refer to any type of bondage as a "yoke" – the yoke of drug addiction, for example. A yoke in this case doesn't refer to something that eases the load – but rather something that creates a burden, something we become subject to.

Is it possible that this is the type of yoke that Jesus is referring to when he tells us that his "yoke is easy"? After all, other scriptures refer to the yoke of Satan -- which is not easy. Nephi refers to how we can become yoked and brought down into captivity by the founder of the great and abominable Church, even the devil, in 1 Nephi 13:5-6. The Lord reinforced this in D&C 123:8 when he taught that "it is an iron yoke, it is a strong band; they are the very handcuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell."

So, with this new perspective on the yoke of Christ, what is he asking us to do when he bids us to take his yoke upon us? He is calling us to repent, to forsake the world, to come unto him, to believe his gospel, to conform to his teachings—with the sure promise that in such a course will be found spiritual rest and peace. And in fact, he has done more than just share the burden with us -- through his atonement he completely removes the burden. The image of being yoked to Christ is one of those gospel paradoxes – (like the greatest should be the least among you). By taking on his yoke, we aren’t burdened; it doesn’t restrict us but rather it frees us.

A More Excellent Way

I always begin my Gospel Doctrine lessons with a trivia question that ties in with the lesson. It is a good way to introduce the topic of study, to give background information that provides the context for the lesson, or simply to share something interesting that I learned while prepring the lesson.

My trivia question for the New Testament lesson #8 was: What is a jot and what is a tittle (as mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 5:18)?