We have a lot to unpack with the temple and Come Follow Me this week, so let’s get started with Noah, who is the perfect transition from Enoch. Enoch and his people “walked with God” and so did Noah (Moses 7:69; Genesis 6:9). This introduces a popular temple theme of walking with God.
Looking at the Topical Guide under the subject Walk, I counted roughly 70 references and 90 entries for Walking with God. If you follow me much at all, you will come to see some of my obsessions and idiosyncrasies. One of these involves an Austrian-Israeli philosopher and Bible scholar named Martin Buber, who lived from 1878 to 1965. Buber coined a term called Leitwort, which is German for “leading word.” These are words that are repeated several times within a passage to emphasize themes and doctrinal ideas. Often, they reveal hidden messages and are often associated with the temple.
The concept of the Leitwort walk is the idea that we walk back to the presence of God. President Nelson emphasized our walk down (but really it’s up) the covenant path. My favorite is in Alma 5:27, where Alma asks, “Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God?” He doesn’t say where the walk leads or any purpose for walking, but his Israelite audience would know that this is a walk back to the presence of God.
There are some commonalities between Enoch and Noah (Enoch’s great-grandson). After the Flood, the Genesis account tells of the covenant between God and Noah, as the Lord said, “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:13). But the Joseph Smith Translation makes it clear that the covenant was originally established with Enoch. By the way, the Hebrew word for bow (qesheth) is a hunter’s bow and arrow and also a rainbow, as in this context. The concept of a bow and its curved shape has connections with the dove, which will return to Noah in the ark. This will be explained in a subsequent post.
There is another “dove” connection. The dove is a symbol for the Holy Ghost, especially the peace provided by the Spirit. Enoch becomes a type of Christ in this passage. Note the similarities:
“And it came to pass that Enoch journeyed in the land, among the people; and as he journeyed, the Spirit of God descended out of heaven, and abode upon him.” (Moses 6:26)
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him (Jesus).” (John 1:32)
Noah is commanded to build an ark, which can be seen as a floating temple. The Ark of the Covenant housed the tables of the covenant and was placed in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and temple. The Greek Septuagint used the word kibotos for both the Ark of the Covenant and Noah’s ark. In Hebrew it was the same word tevah. The ark had separate rooms and was “pitched within and without with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). The Hebrew word for pitch is kaphar, meaning “to coat or cover with pitch,” but it’s also the word for atonement, making the Ark holy, sacred space, reminding us of the Savior’s atonement.
Noah’s Ark had three stories, matching the zones of sacredness of celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. It also matched the Garden of Eden, the temple, and Mount Sinai. The Outer Courtyard of the temple represents the telestial world where Adam and Eve were cast into after the Fall. The Holy Place of the temple represents the Garden of Eden and the terrestrial world. The Holy of Holies represents the presence of God, the Tree of Life, and the celestial world.
I have attached two figures below from Jeffrey M. Bradshaw’s and David J. Larsen’s most excellent book, In God’s Image and Likeness 2, Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel, pages 305-6.
