BRAZEN SEA, OXEN, BAPTISM, AND LUSTRATION by

©Robert F. Smith

March 2015

Someone who does not know much about temples, and Mormons building

temples, should be directed to the Bible.

Frank Moore Cross Jr.1

Recapitulation

It is little known or appreciated that the Hebrew and LXX Greek words for Abaptize,@ though not translated as such by the KJV translators, are certainly used in the Old Testament in a

variety of places and contexts, and that the doctrine of purification which underlies all ritual

ablutions in the OT and NT (and throughout the ancient world) is not to be subjected to

reductionist notions of discontinuity B even where we do not have detailed historiography on the

phenomenon in all specific times or places. That is, the baptism of John and of the Essenes2

(indeed of orthodox Judaism of the day B Pharisaic) did not exist in, nor arise from a vacuum,

though we cannot trace the development or transmission of such institutions in precise terms.

Had baptism been novel and new, that alone would have attracted considerable attention and

comment. Yet, the baptism of John (and the baptism of Jesus and his followers) raised no such

cries of heresy. Why not?

The term Abaptism@ itself has much broader and more involved meaning than the average

person assumes,3 and the Jerusalem Bible notes that Abaptisms@ in Hebrews 6:2 refers to all

ablution rites practiced by the early Church.4 Of course, Hugh Nibley and well-informed

Mormons have rightly considered this one piece of evidence for the authenticity of various LDS

rites of lustration, but I need not cover that broad subject here.

1 ABetween Heaven and Earth,@ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, full-length DVD

(Intellectual Reserve, 2005), 35:28.

2 S. J. Pfann, “The Essene Yearly Renewal Ceremony and the Baptism of Repentance,” online at

http://www.uhl.ac/Baptism%20article/Baptism.pdf , citing at 1 n. 2, Levitical immersion in Judith 12:7, and

Ecclus 31(34):30; M. A. Daise, “The Temporal Relationship between the Covenant Renewal Rite and the

Initiation Process in 1QS,” 150-160, in M. T. Davis & & B. A. Strawn, eds., Qumran Studies: New

Approaches, New Questions (Grand Rapids/Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2007).

3 See James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford, 1971), 140-144, for an excellent

summary.

4 Jerusalem Bible at Heb 6:2, note C; so also James Moffat; cf. Acts 1:5, 2:40-41, 18:25, 19:1-5,

Romans 6:4, Ephesians 5:26; G. W. Buchanan, To the Hebrews, Anchor Bible 36, agrees (103-104), citing

Justin Martyr=s attack on, and Clementine approval of the use of a variety of ablutions among early

Christians.

2

Another matter which is significant, though frequently ignored, is that of instances of

baptism in the Old Testament which are specifically termed such in the New Testament. This is

the case for I Peter 3:20-21, in which Noah=s Flood is an antitype of baptism: literally Asaved . . . by

water, to which the antitype is the baptism which saves you now,@ and for I Corinthians 10:1-2, in

which the passage through the Red Sea under guidance of a cloud constitutes baptism into Moses B

just as Christians are baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 3:27) B even though the

Hebrews are not wetted in their passage!!5 In each case, water is the means of salvation, and in

the case of the Flood as Aan Old Testament counterpart to Christian baptism@ the direct analogies

are the death of the old and the birth of the new, the Ark as equivalent to the Church, etc.6

Albright & Mann find Matthew frequently employing the Messianic Servant Songs of

Isaiah, and the reference in Isaiah 43:2 being used of baptism in Matthew 3:16, saying AWhen you

pass through the waters [waters of the sea, McKenzie & Freedman] I will be with you.@7 Another

instance of related Messianic usage (Schonfield), but which also has to do with the waters of the

abyss and death symbolized by the Bronze Sea, is Psalm 18:17 (KJV 18:16 = II Samuel 22:17),

AHe sent from on high, and took me, and drew me out of many waters.@8 For, just as the Christian

is baptized into the death of the Messiah (Romans 6:3), so the Messiah=s baptism by John

prefigures his own death and struggle in the Nether Regions (so Mark 10:38, Luke 12:50, as in the

Flood motif in I Peter 3). More on this below.

Atonement for the Dead

Mormonism claims that all the ordinances of the Kingdom of God may be performed by

proxy in any authentic temple of God (or in any other sanctuary so authorized). Baptism is the

first of these, and normally takes place at the large font set on twelve oxen at the very base of a

Mormon temple (cf. D&C 124:29-30). As evidence that they did not invent the practice

themselves, Mormons have frequently cited Paul=s brief comment in I Corinthians 15:29. Paul

there correctly assumes that his contemporaries in Corinth understand the comment, though he

states neither approval nor disapproval of the practice B a practice attested elsewhere in later

Patristic literature. The finest European evangelical scholar finds the passage too obscure to

decide what it might mean,9 but the phrasing and style surely call to mind II Maccabees 12:44-46,

part of the Roman Catholic canon B which I quote here from the Jerusalem Bible:

For if he had not expected the fallen to rise again it would have been superfluous and

foolish to pray for the dead, whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for

those who make a pious end, the thought was holy and devout. This was why he had this

atonement sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.

5 Cf. W. F. Orr & J. A. Walther, I Corinthians, Anchor Bible 32, pp. 245,247.

6 Bo Reicke, Epistles of James, Peter, and John, Anchor Bible 37, pp. 112-115.

7 W. F. Albright & C. S. Mann, Matthew, AB 26, at Mt 3:16.

8 Reicke, Epistles, 114.

9 H. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology, 24-25,540.

3 (cf. II Maccabees 7:9,14, 12:40-43, 15:12-16) According to the great James Barr, Paul was

alluding to one of these very passages!!10

Indeed, just because the issue does not seem to

explicitly be laid out in the Old Testament or New Testament is no argument for its non-existence,

nor for it being un-Christian. Moreover, the Catholic doctrine of purgatory is similar, and

apparently the Coptic Christians have actually practiced baptism for the dead into recent times.11

We also know that immersion of dead bodies has been practiced as ritual purification by pagans

and Jews, though the Rabbis discouraged it.12

Whatever the case, we know that Judaism required

complete immersion for conversion, for regular ritual bathing (miqveh), as well as for priests

before their daily temple service.13

The broad notion of salvation via ritual washing in Old and

New Testaments is repeatedly indicated, as the following sampling shows:

Jeremiah 4:14 Wash your heart of wickedness, O Jerusalem

That you might be saved

Psalm 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,

Purify me from my sin.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash you,

Make you clean, . .

1:18 Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red as crimson,

They shall be like wool.

Acts 22:16 Be baptized and wash away your sins.

I Corinthians 6:11 But you are washed,

But you are sanctified.

Revelation 1:5 [Jesus] washed us from our sins in his own blood.

Hugh Nibley gave a thorough treatment of the ancient sources on baptism for the dead in

the LDS Improvement Era in 1948 and 1949,14

going on later to cover ancient sources on water

purification at entry for initiation, or for priestly function, for the dead as well as for the living.15

10

Barr, Holy Scripture: Canon, Authority, Criticism (Westminster, 1983), 40-43, n. 19.

11 Cf. A. M. Blackman, ASome Notes on the Ancient Egyptian Practice of Washing the Dead,@ JEA,

5 (1918):117-124; “Baptism of Pharaoh” scene with priests of falcon-headed Horus and ibis-headed Thot

pouring ʿankh signs over the Pharaoh – probably representing an actual purification ritual, accord9ing to

Alan Gardiner, “Baptism of Pharaoh,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 36 (Dec 1950):3-12.

12 H. Ridderbos, Paul, 25 n. 33; Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2:83.

13 A. Edersheim, The Temple, 149; Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2:82.

14 H. Nibley, Improvement Era, 51 (Dec 1948); 52 (Jan-April 1949). See the major negative reply

of B. M. Foschini in Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 13 (1951):51-53,70-73.

15 Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, 1

st ed., 93-94 (cf. also

264-266,274,276-277,282, etc., for Gnostic as well as Christian evidence); Nibley, AAncient Temples:

4 Surely the Jewish Septuagint (LXX) translators had a rationale for sometimes using the Greek

word baptize to translate such Hebrew references to ritual washing as those in Exodus 12:22,

Leviticus 4:6,17, 9:9, 11:32, Numbers 19:18-21, II Kings 5:13-14 ( = βάπτειv, βαπτίξειv,

βαπτός).16

Some of the Patristic data was probably available in English commentaries in Joseph

Smith=s time, but it is difficult to imagine Joseph Smith doing scholarly research on such matters

and reaching such profoundly detailed and correct conclusions!

Vicarious Atonement

Is merit transferrable? Does the merit of Jesus transfer? Is unmerited suffering

redemptive? Is vicarious atonement possible according to scripture? On one side we have

Exodus 20:5, Deuteronomy 5:9, Jeremiah 31:29, and Ezekiel 14:14,20, 18:2, while on the other

side we have Genesis 6:18, 12:1-5, 18:22-23, and I Corinthians 15:29 (cf. Deut 24:16, II Kings

14:6, Isaiah 42:1, 52:13 - 53:12, II Maccabees 12:45). Are these scriptures in synch? Or do we

have an intratextual dispute here?

Of course, the notion of vicarious or proxy expiation of sin is an accepted commonplace in

the Judeo-Christian tradition, and is certainly not at issue.17

For Krister Stendahl (Lutheran

Bishop and Dean Emeritus of Harvard Divinity School), LDS baptism for the dead is rightly

subject to Aholy envy@: In a world where we finally have learned what I call the Aholy envy,@ it=s a beautiful thing.

I could think of myself as taking part in such an act, extending the blessings that have come

to me in and through Jesus Christ. That=s generous. That=s beautiful. And it should not

be ridiculed or spoken badly of.18

However, despite such fair-minded scholarly opinion, there is a good deal of controversy over the

application of the principle of vicarious atonement to those who have died without the thorough-

going opportunity to perform what some regard as essential, temporal ordinances B without which,

it is claimed, salvation is not possible. As I have suggested, perhaps the frequently used Mormon

proof-text of I Corinthians 15:29 on baptism for the dead should be viewed here in light of II

Maccabees 12:45 (46), which C. L. Brinton renders in his Septuagint (LXX) translation as

Areconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.@ The New American Bible

translates Aatonement for the dead that they might be free from sin,@ the New English Bible as Aan

atoning sacrifice to free the dead from their sin,@ and the Jerusalem Bible as Aatonement sacrifice

offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.@ The principle was obviously

present prior to New Testament times, though the means in the Maccabean source (in the

What Do They Signify?@ Ensign, 2/9 (Sept 1972):46-49.

16 Cf. Judith 12:7-9, Ecclus (Wisdom of Ben Sirah) 34:25 (30).

17 See, for example, A. Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, rev. ed. (Boston:

Bradley & Woodruff, 1904/ reprint Eerdmans, 1978/ Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1997), 122ff.

18 ABetween Heaven and Earth,@ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints full-length DVD

(Intellectual Reserve, 2005), 28:40.

5 Apocrypha) was a Temple offering, a standard mode of expiation for living Israelites B if merely a

type of the atonement to be made by Jesus. Indeed, the great James Barr goes so far as to assert

that, in discussing proxy baptism in I Corinthians 15:29, Paul was referring directly to II

Maccabees 12,19

just as I had long supposed.

Mormons generally accept the standard exegesis of New Testament texts on the descent of

Jesus to Hades, from the time of his death until his resurrection, and his preaching to the spirits of

the dead in Hades/She=ol.20

The early Christians took the same view (as evidenced by the

Apostles Creed and certain variant readings in I Peter, in turn based on direct knowledge of the

canonical book of I Enoch). However, Mormons rightly ask, AWhy the preaching, if it is not

efficacious toward acceptance of the Word by the dead@? From Romans 6:3-4,13, Titus 3:5,

Colossians 2:11-13, Ephesians 4:22, etc., we can conclude that baptism in water is equivalent to

circumcision, as well as to being brought forth (reborn or resurrected) free from sin, after being

buried in death with Jesus (cf. Psalm 42:8, Galatians 3:27, I Corinthians 6:11). The cosmic

connotations of the Amany waters@ in which all are buried at baptism (Psalm 18:17 = KJV 18:16)

are best seen in light of H. B. May=s thorough treatment,21

even though H. Ridderbos objects to the

notion that Paul teaches Adeath by drowning@ or the like in Romans 6 or Colossians 2.22

Even the sloppy and outdated work of Henry H. Halley correctly suggests that the brazen

sea or laver of Exodus was Aa >shadow= of Cleansing by the blood of Christ, and perhaps of

Christian Baptism.@23 Why make such a suggestion? What was the brazen sea anyhow? Do

Mormons use it in an authentic manner in their temples?

Bronze Sea

The laver is . . . called the ASea@ in biblical Hebrew. It is used

particularly, though, for the priests making themselves clean. It is

related, if you wish, therefore, ultimately to baptism.

19

James Barr, Holy Scripture: Canon, Authority, Criticism (Westminster, 1983), 40-43, n. 19; see

also Rabbi Akiba's tale of a son's prayer saving his dead father from punishment in Hell (Joseph H. Hertz,

ed., The Authorized Daily Prayer Book, 2nd ed. [N.Y.: Bloch, 1948], 270-271); cf. II Macc 7:9,36, 14:46,

IV Macc 6:28-29; Isa 53:5-12 (4QM frag 5), Mk 10:45, Acts 24:21; Talmud Babli, Yoma 86b. However,

the practice is opposed in II Esdras 7:[105] (IV Ezra).

20 I Peter 3:18-20, 4:6, Matthew 12:40, 16:18, Acts 2:24,27,31, Romans 10:7, Ephesians 4:9,

Hebrews 13:20; cf. Numbers 16:33-34.

21 May, AThe Cosmic Connotations of Mayim Rabbim,@ Journal of Biblical Literature, 74 (1955):

12-20; cf. Sumerian abzu, abzux (UMUMKASKAL) "(cosmic) underground water; a ritual water

container in a temple" = Akkadian apsû.

22 H. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology, 24, adding at n. 31 that in the Isis Mysteries

there is only the preparatory purification by sprinkling.

23 Halley, Halley=s Bible Handbook, 24

th ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965/1993), 132.

6

Frank Moore Cross Jr.24

According to Exodus 30:17-21, the Tabernacle of Moses had a bronze basin, made from

polished bronze mirrors of the women (38:8), placed between the altar and the Tent of Meeting.

The priests used to wash (LXX Abaptize@) their hands and feet there before services, i.e., Aaron and

his sons. The bronze sea in I Kings 7:23-26 was cast by the Phoenician artisan Hiram of Tyre

with gourds (or bowls) under its rim and fully encircling it in two rows, all of bronze. This was

set on twelve oxen in groups of three oriented to each world direction, North West South and East,

hindquarters inward supporting the sea. The New American Bible calculates the capacity of this

Bronze Sea of the Temple of Solomon at 12,000 gallons, but I will cover this in more detail below.

In I Kings 7:27-39 we then find a description of ten portable, wheeled, quadrangular stands

and bronze basins, with an undercarriage of lions, oxen, and cherubs on the crosspieces, and

wreaths or scrolls below B five at each side of the Temple, each with a capacity of 40 baths

(Hebrew bat ) = at least 240 gallons = 912 liters. These basins were used for the washing of

sacrificial victims (II Chronicles 4:6). As in Exodus, I Kings 7:29 uses the Egyptian word for

Astand@ (cf. II Kings 16:17, 25:13, Jeremiah 27:19 II Chronicles 4:2-5), i.e., the word used for

Astand, foot@ (Hebrew kan ) is Egyptian in origin (gn) and is a terminus technicus for the stands

used in ancient Egyptian temples and sanctuaries.25

Biblical sources differ significantly as to the capacity of the great Bronze Sea of the

Temple of Solomon:

I Kings 7:26 2,000 baths = 44,000 liters = 11,440 gallons U.S.

II Chronicles 4:5 3,000 baths = 66,000 liters = 17,160 gallons U.S.

It is doubtful that this discrepancy can be accounted for via differing cubit standards,26

and Robert

North gives us the most credible solution by showing that I Kings uses the formula for the volume

of a hemisphere, V=aCr2, for the 2,000 baths, while the Chronicler uses the formula for finding

the capacity of a cylinder, V=2Crh, in order to obtain 3,000 baths. That the Sea was a

hemispherical washing tub for the priests is the likeliest since I Kings is based on eyewitness

testimony, whereas Chronicles is late and compiled after the destruction of the Sea.27

24

ABetween Heaven and Earth,@ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, full-length DVD

(Intellectual Reserve, 2005), 10:56.

25 A. S. Yahuda, Language of the Pentateuch, 92; for other such sacred paraphernalia, see John

Tvedtnes, AEgyptian Etymologies for Biblical Cultic Paraphernalia," in Sarah Israelit-Groll, ed., Scripta

Hierosolymitana, 28 (Jerusalem, 1982), 215-221 B expanded on in his November 1997 SBL San Francisco

presentation; cf. Michael M. Homan, AThe Divine Warrior in His Tent: A Military Model for Yahweh=s

Tabernacle,@ Bible Review, 16/6 (Dec 2000):22-33,55, for the strong Egyptian parallels.

26 Biblical Archaeologist, 12:86-90; cf. Ezekiel 40:5, 45:11.

27 See discussion in R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, I:202-204; Harold Lindsell, Battle for the Bible,

7

Circa 733 B.C., King Ahaz of Judah removed the wheeled stands and crosspieces from the

ten bronze basins, as well as the oxen from underneath the Bronze Sea (II Kings 16:17), probably

using the metal as part of his tribute to King Tiglath Pileser III of Assyria. The basins and Sea

then simply rested on the pavement and continued in use until broken up and sent back to Babylon

by King Nebuchadrezzar II in 586 B.C. (II Kings 25:13-17, Jeremiah 52:17-23).28

Descriptions of the most recent Jewish Temple, that known as the Temple of Herod (since

he thoroughly renovated and remodeled it), are available in the works of Josephus and Alfred

Edersheim.29

From these sources it is evident that, like the ideal of Zerubbabel, it was very

similar to the Temple of Solomon, including the use of a great Bronze Sea B though supported by

twelve huge lions rather than oxen/bulls.30

Symbolism

Speaking of the oxen under the Brazen Sea, Frank Moore Cross Jr said that Atwelve is

always the proper symbolism in Israel.@31 Hugh Nibley saw Acosmic symbolism@ here, the twelve

oxen being representative of Athe circle of the year,@ and the Sea as Athe Gates of Salvation.@32

Othmar Keel likewise sees cosmic symbolism, the primeval ocean frequently being indicated by

zig-zag lines,33

as in the LDS book of Abraham facsimile 1, and the Mesopotamian apsu standing

for any or all of the three oceans B heavenly, earthly, and subterranean.34

This latter detail

reminds one of Nibley=s comment on Athe three stages of the great altar [of the Temple of

Solomon] . . . representing the three worlds.@35 Keel discusses the Bronze Sea and its extensive

meaning and watery symbolism at length,36

so that, returning to the Bible, we are forced to

165-166; and Edward F. Campbell, Jr., Ruth, Anchor Bible 7, p. 104 notes.

28

de Vaux, Ancient Israel, II:321-322; Encyclopaedia Judaica, 15:950.

29 Josephus, Jewish War, V, 184-236; Edersheim, The Temple.

30 Edersheim, The Temple, 55.

31 ABetween Heaven and Earth,@ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints full-length DVD

(Intellectual Reserve, 2005), 10:56.

32 Nibley, AThe Idea of the Temple in History,@ Millennial Star, 120/8 (Aug 1958): 232,236, citing

Albright; Encyclopaedia Judaica, 15:950, oxen representing the four seasons; Othmar Keel, The

Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms, 136,

preferring to emphasize the seasonal fertility function of the oxen/bulls.

33 Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 41, figs. 36-38.

34 Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 136.

35 Nibley in Millennial Star, 120/8:232,236, citing Albright; cf. the three-terraced Caracol at

Chichén Itzá, or of Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

36 Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 36-41,138-144.

8 consider again the notion of being buried with Jesus in baptism, which leads us directly to Romans

10:7, where Deuteronomy 30:13 is quoted with Asea@ changed to the Adepths@ (of the Underworld),

so that Paul can speak of Christ being brought back from death in the depths of the Underworld B

represented in Mormon temples by a copy of Hiram of Tyre=s huge Brazen Sea = the cosmic

watery abyss (cf. Jonah 2:3-7), or Hades, which I will discuss below.

The twelve oxen or bulls in a circle also bring to mind the use of Nandi-bulls as a kind of

fence encircling the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, near Madras, India (ca. 700-720 A.D.),

Nandi being the vahana or Amount@ of the god Shiva.37

Shiva was, of course, the Hindu god of

death, like Osiris, but also parallels Saturn and Yahweh/Jehovah B especially as the savior of

mankind. Shiva is also a member of the Hindu trinity (Trimurti). Like Shiva, Osiris is identified

with the bull, and one ancient Egyptian coffin in the British Museum (#29777) shows Osiris in the

form of a bull bearing the dead person to the Underworld.38

Moreover, both Yahweh and Ba=al

rode bulls.39

All this by way of prelude to a deeper meaning.

Josephus noted that the veil of the Temple in Jerusalem was covered with celestial

symbols, just like the astrochiton of pagan priests and gods, and indeed like the Hebrew ephod,40

so that it is no surprise to find the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City having the Big Dipper and Polaris

on the center of the west towers, along with stars, sunstones, saturn, and moon on the crenellated

and buttressed pillars of heaven. The Dipper & Polaris represent the unwearying circumpolar

stars of God in Isaiah 14:13 (= II Nephi 24:13), and Albright said that they symbolize eternity there

as well as in Phoenicia and Egypt.41

The Big Dipper, also commonly called Ursa Major, AThe

Great Bear,@ was known anciently as a four-wheeled chariot in Mesopotamia, and as the Foreleg of

an ox or bull in ancient Egypt.42

The Big Dipper has also been known as the Seven Sages (who sit

in the Heavenly Council with God, Isaiah 14:13), and as the seven wheels of time (in the hymn to

Kla in the Atharva Veda 19:53:1-2).43

It could also be identified as a two to four-wheeled wagon

of Charlemagne = Charles= Wain = the Whirlpool (below), as the seven threshing oxen, or

Septemtriones, which keep the millstone or plaga septentrionales moving, with alpha Ursae

Minoris, the Little Bear, as the axle of the millstone, and Kokob/Kochab (beta Ursae Minoris) as

37

J. Campbell, The Masks of God, II, Oriental Mythology, 63.

38 J. Campbell, Masks of God, II, Oriental Mythology, 69-70, citing Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian

Resurrection, I:13.

39 W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, 197-198; cf. Exodus 32, I Kings 12:28ff.

40 Albright, YGC, 200-203.

41 Albright, YGC, 201-202 n. 69.

42 Cf. the ceiling of Seti I, Luxor, Valley of the Kings; Denderah Stone Zodiac, Temple of Isis

(Louvre); Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, II:312-315; D. A. Allen, AAn Astronomer=s Impressions of

Ancient Egypt,@ Sky and Telescope, 54 (July 1977):15-19.

43

G. de Santillana & H. von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 373.

9 the Amillpeg@ of the ever-turning and grinding mill of the gods.

44 Kochab was, of course, the pole

star in Abraham=s time, while today it has been replaced by Polaris.

Ancient myth held that (due to the precession of the poles) the millstone would go out of

kilter at the end of each age, requiring the use of a new Pole Star and the recognition of a new

zodiacal sign at the Vernal Equinox (the Afiducial point@ of the whole system). It would thus be

cast from the sky into the ocean, becoming the cause of a great whirlpool or vortex in the watery

abyss, and, like the Bronze Sea, the symbol of the entranceway to chaos and death. It is familiar

in Norse mythology as the Maelstrom or Vortex, or as the Charybdis Whirlpool B simply the

counterpart to the great mill in the sky, the Churn of the Gods, which became unhinged and sunk

due to the shifting of the planet Earth on its axis.45

In Homer=s Odyssey (20.103ff.), we can of

course call attention to the twelve mill-women,46

and to the Big Dipper on the shield of Achilles in

the Iliad.47

Such connections are world-wide and systematic, and clearly come down from

prehistoric times, as de Santillana and von Dechend have shown. The archaic frame for time

which they find virtually everywhere on the planet tells of the return of the lost golden age

someday, and, whether we accept that the return of the rule of Kronos-Saturn (as described by

Virgil=s Fourth Eclogue before Christ), under the sign of Pisces and Virgo, took place at the birth

of Jesus,48

it must be noted that Saturn is to be identified as the Lord and Pivot of the Mill of the

Gods, i.e., he is Polaris, and Polaris is none other than the Anorth nail@ or AWorld Nail.@49 This

calls to mind that Saturn is to be identified as Yahweh/Jesus the Messiah, who is there the Son of

God, and whose crucifixion is accomplished with nails. That he is also High Priest, King,

sacrificial lamb, and God may seem much to ask, but the New Testament assigns to him even more

than this short listing!! That Polaris should be the central nail or peg of the turning mill of time

and destiny, and the way into and out of the watery abyss of death and hell is actually entirely

appropriate. Mormon esoteric liturgy may be much deeper and more suggestive than most

Mormons themselves imagine!!

Equinoctial precession means that a new constellation appears to emerge from the waters

every 2,000 years or so, and that the old simultaneously glides below the celestial equator and is

drowned, and this concept even connects with the metaphorical death of the old Earth and birth of

the new B with four new constellations at the equinoctial points and solstitial points, thus leading to

the identifications of the four constellations at these points as the four pillars or corners of the

44

De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 137-138,378-383, and passim; cf. LDS book of

Abraham 3:13,15, and facsimile 2:5.

45 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 146-147, and passim.

46 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 90.

47 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 385.

48 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill,

59,133-136,222-224,244-245,261,268-269,340,399-401, and passim.

49 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 123.

10 Aquadrangular earth.@50

The seasonal and fertility function is clear without explanation, but there

is the further identification of Ursa Major as a coffin or bier among such diverse peoples as the

Sioux, the Arabs, and tribes in Southern Sumatra. Among the Skidi-Pawnee a stretcher is carried

by Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.51

This ties in well enough with the arrangement of the oxen (or

lions) in four groups of three, and, in fact, the Egyptian Canopic gods were likewise placed or

grouped at each corner of the bier of the deceased, and were known specifically as the gods of the

four quarters of the Earth and as the pillars of heaven (see my Commentary on Book of Abraham

facsimile 2:6 for citations).

Finally, we must observe that the Sun=s Acarrier@ or sign was the constellation which rose

heliacally at the Vernal Equinox B it was the main Apillar@ of the sky and the leader of the quatuor

tempora of Christian liturgy52

B so that we are not surprised to find all the planetary gods gathered

in the temple of the Sun celebrating and lamenting the death and grinding up of Tammuz, just as

they anticipate the sacrifice of Abraham under the direction of the Solar priesthood of Shagreel in

the LDS book of Abraham.53

More Precedents

De Vaux said that the best parallel to the Bronze Sea in the Temple of Solomon is a stone

basin from Amathonte, Cyprus, though he also compares the apsû-reservoirs found in some

Mesopotamian temples. Smaller, wheeled basins are known from Cyprus and Megiddo.54

James Pritchard found that, not only are the temples of Solomon and of Hazor (Canaanite) of the

same general plan as at Tell Tainat in North Syria,55

but there is even a large bronze basin in the

floor at the doorway to the fortified and oval-walled temple complex of Mahram Bilqis (ca.

10th-9th centuries B.C.) near Marib in ancient South Arabia.56

Thus, we have not only lavers of

bronze (brass) placed on bases in Solomon=s Temple, as at Larnaca (Cyprus), Ugarit/Ras Shamra

(Syria), and Megiddo57

(Canaan), but the general plan and details are likewise similar to others in

the ancient Near Eastern architectural tradition: Tell Tainat (N. Syria), the Late Bronze Age Late

50

De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 59-63; cf. LDS book of Abraham facsimile 2:6.

51 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 384, and n. 5; cf. book of Abraham facsimile

1:5-8.

52 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 59,62.

53 De Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet=s Mill, 91-92, citing Ibn Wa=shijja, Book of Nabataean

Agriculture, and the cult of the Ssabians of Harran. See my detailed Commentary on the LDS Book of

Abraham.

54 De Vaux, Ancient Israel, II:319.

55 J. B. Pritchard, Solomon & Sheba, 38.

56 Pritchard, Solomon & Sheba, 49,62.

57 Encyclopaedia Judaica, 15:950.

11 Fosse Temple at Beth-Shean, Palestine (stratum VI), and Hazor (stratum Ib, area H).

58 Finally, D.

R. Hillers compared the part of Sumerian temples used for lustration/ablutions known as the

usga.59

Additional Sources

Riley, Hugh M., Christian Initiation: A Comparative Study in the Mystagogical

Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Ambrose of

Milan, Catholic University of America Studies in Christian Antiquity 17 (Wash., DC:

Consortium, 1974).

Strack, H. L., and P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch

(Beck, 1922-1961).

Talmage, James E., House of the Lord, 33-34,65-78.

58

Encyclopaedia Judaica, 15:947,952.

59 Hillers, Lamentations, Anchor Bible 7A, XXX, citing Kramer in Pritchard, ed., ANET, 3

rd ed.,

651 n. 70.