Jewish Roots vs the Great Apostasy and the Great Whore

In my last blog I wrote about the importance of Jewish Roots for Book of Mormon understanding, and that through their common Jewish roots the Bible and the Book of Mormon would grow together.  Today I want to talk about the Great Whore of Babylon, and how she was born from the rejection of Jewish Roots.

In the Book of Mormon Nephi has a vision of the future events.  In this vision an angel of the Lord explains this vision to him and says regarding the Bible:

24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.
25 Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.
26 And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.
28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.
29 And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.
(1Nephi 13:24-29 (3:165-172 RLDS)

In his book Rosh HaShanna and the Messianic Kingdom to Come, Messianic Jewish writer Joseph Good describes these events as follows:

The same year that Rav Shaul (Paul) died (66 C.E.), the Jewish nation revolted against the Roman Empire. Four years later the Roman legions encircled Jerusalem at the feast of Pesach (Passover). Yeshua had warned the believers that the generation that was alive at the time of His death would see Jerusalem destroyed. He had instructed that when the city was circled by the enemy, they were to flee, which is what they did. Five months later the city fell. During this time, congregations in the Diasporia (dispersion) scattered throughout the Roman world, experienced radical changes. To support the Jewish people, or even Jewish customs, was interpreted as not being loyal to Rome. The greater numbers of Gentiles among the congregations began to make a difference as anti-Jewishness began to be popular….

Toward the beginning of the fourth century C.E., Constantine became the Caesar of Rome. In his rise to power, he supposedly became a believer and joined the group now called Christians. In 325 C.E. he called the Council of Nicea, where he gathered the heads of the Christian community from throughout the empire. In this council, however, he purposely left out every Jewish leader. Laws were passed forbidding Jewish believers to circumcise their children, to observe the Jewish festivals or to rear their children as Jews. The Jewish believers were forced to cease being Jewish and to become, in every sense of the word, Gentiles. Pagan festivals such as Easter, lent, Christmas, and Sunday were substituted for the Biblical festivals of G-d.... The faith now was a totally different religion. Greek names, concepts, and religion became Christianity. The faith had been “gentilized.”…

Even the Gospels and the Epistles were gentilized when they were translated into other languages and were given common Gentile names and idiomatic thoughts, causing people to miss the intended Jewishness of those scriptures. 
(Rosh HaShanna and the Messianic Kingdom to Come; By Joseph Good; Hatikvah Ministries, 1989, page iii, 4, 8)

Furthermore in his book Messianic Jewish Manifesto Messianic Jewish writer David Stern writes:

But after Christianity became the state religion of Rome in the early fourth century, many unsaved Gentiles entered the institutional Church.  It grew far larger than the entire Jewish population of the world, became fully Gentilized, regarded the Jews as a vanquished competitor, and had little understanding of Jewish believers who wanted to retain their Jewishness.
(Messianic Jewish Manifesto; By David Stern; Jewish New Testament Publications; Page 54)

As Nephi's vision continues, a bit later the Angel later tells Nephi that this great and abominable church which resulted from this Gentilization of the Church is the great whore:

9 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look, and behold that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations, whose founder is the devil.
10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.
11 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.
12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.
13 And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God.
(1Nephi 14:9-13 (3:219-229 RLDS))

This is clearly the same woman Yochanan (John) saw recorded in the Book of Revelation:

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
(Rev. 17:3-5 KJV)

This is made clear just a few verses later where Nephi records:

18 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
19 And I looked and beheld a man, and he was dressed in a white robe.
20 And the angel said unto me: Behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
21 Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things; yea, and also many things which have been.
22 And he shall also write concerning the end of the world.
23 Wherefore, the things which he shall write are just and true; and behold they are written in the book which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; and at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or, at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, the things which were written were plain and pure, and most precious and easy to the understanding of all men.
24 And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see.
25 But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them.
26 And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel.
27 And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John, according to the word of the angel.
(1Nephi 14:18-27 (3:238-251))

From these verses in 1Nephi 13-14 we learn that the truth went forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles and contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, but after it went forth from the Jews to the Gentiles the Gentiles created a great and abominable church, the Great Whore of Babylon and rejected the inherent Jewish roots of the Scriptures.

The great and abominable church was formed through the rejection of Jewish Roots.

Michael Jones

The Book of Mormon and Jewish Roots

In the Book of Ezekiel we read one of the clearest and most profound prophecies of the reunion of the two houses of Israrel:

15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
(Ezekiel 37:15-19 KJV)

Ezekiel goes on to explain the primary meaning of this prophecy:

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
(Ezekiel 37:21-22 KJV)

Nephi writes in the Book of Mormon:

“… mine eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews, and I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets, and there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.”
(2Ne. 25:5 (11:8 RLDS))

The Messianic Jewish writer David Stern suggests that:

…we should take note of the four kinds of Scripture interpretation which the rabbis used:

* P'shat (simple) ㄧ The plain, simple sense of the text, what modern interpreters call grammatical-historical exegesis.

* Remez (hint) ㄧ Peculiar features of the text are regarded as hinting at a deeper truth than that conveyed by its plain sense.

* Drash or midrash (search) ㄧ Creativity is used to search the text in relation to the rest of the Bible, other literature or life in order to develop an allegorical or homiletical application of the text. This involves eisegesis ㄧ reading ones own thoughts into a text ㄧ as well as exegesis, which is extracting from a text its actual meaning.

* Sod (secret) ㄧ One operates on the numerical values of the Hebrew letters; for example, two words whose letters add up to the same amount would be good candidates for revealing a secret through "bisociation of ideas."
(Messianic Jewish Manifesto; David Stern, 1988 p. 106)
Moreover we read in the Midrash Rabbah “…there are seventy facets of expounding the Torah.” (Numbers Rabbah 13:16)

In the Book of Mormon Lehi makes a Midrash on the meaning of Ezekiel’s prophecy saying:

12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
(2Ne. 3:12-13 (2:19-24 RLDS))

So we have in these verses of Ezekiel a picture not only of the reunion of the two houses of Israel, but of the growing together of the stick of Judah (the Bible) and the stick of Joseph (the Book of Mormon).

Romans 9:26-26 begins the contrast of the “Jews” and “Gentiles” by quoting Hosea 2:23; 1:10 in Rom. 9:25-26.

23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
(Romans 9:23-27 KJV)

If we look up the context of the people “which were not my people” which he calls “my people” in Hosea we find that they are the “children of Israel”:

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
(Hosea 1:10 KJV)

He contrasts these with “the children of Judah”:

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
(Hosea 1:11 KJV)

And then he says of "the children of Israel":

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
(Hosea 2:23 KJV)

So in Romans 9:23-27 the “Jews” of Rom. 9:24 are the “Children of Judah” and the “Gentiles” of Rom. 9:24 are the  “children of Israel."

Therefore when Paul reaches Romans 11 he illustrates this contrasting pair as two olive trees: A wild olive tree (the children of Israel) and a tame olive tree (the children of Judah).  Paul's allegory of the two olive trees corresponds to the two “sticks” prophecy of Ezekiel 37.  The word "stick" in the Hebrew of Ezekiel 37 is ETZ which also means "tree."

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
(Romans 11:16-26 KJV)

When Paul uses the phrase “fullness of Gentiles” in 11:15 he is recalling a passage from Genesis:

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
(Gen. 48:18-20 KJV)

In the Hebrew the phrase מלא הגוים (m’loa HaGoyim) “multitude of nations” (Gen. 48:29) could also be translated “fullness of Gentiles” (Rom. 11:25).

Here we have an allegory about Ephraimite branches being grafted into a Jewish olive tree, and this union parallels the union of the two houses of Israel as the two sticks being made one in Ezekiel 37.  It must also tell us therefore about the “growing together” of the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  And now we see why Lehi uses the phrase “growing together”, because the two sticks prophecy of Ezekiel corresponds to the allegory of the two olive trees given by Paul… but which Lehi knew earlier as given by the prophet Zenos in the Brass Plates (Jacob 5 & 6 (3:30-4:18 RLDS).

Paul emphasizes that the Ephraimite branches from the wild olive tree must be fed by the root of the “good” olive tree of Judah:

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
(Romans 11:17-18 KJV)

Messianic Jewish writer David Stern comments on these verses saying:  “…whether the root is Yeshua, Avraham, the Patriarchs, the Messianic Jews or all the Jews, it is a Jewish root, and don't you forget it!” (Jewish New Testament Commentary; David Stern; 1992 p. 413 on Rom. 11:17-18)

In the Brass Plates as quoted by Jacob in the Book of Mormon, Zenos speaks in more detail about these Jewish roots of the good olive tree.  Speaking of the days of the original followers of Yeshua as Messiah Zenos writes that by partaking of the moisture of the root, the branches of the wild olive tree (Ephraim) brought forth much strength and “tame fruit” because of the strength of the root:

18 And he said unto the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild branches have brought forth tame fruit. Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would have perished. And now, behold, I shall lay up much fruit, which the tree thereof hath brought forth; and the fruit thereof I shall lay up against the season, unto mine own self.
(Jacob 5:18 (3:54-57 RLDS))

Then speaking of the time of the great apostasy Zenos says that despite the falling away “that the roots are good” and that YHWH has “preserved them” “because of their much strength.”:

36 Nevertheless, I know that the roots are good, and for mine own purpose I have preserved them; and because of their much strength they have hitherto brought forth, from the wild branches, good fruit.
(Jacob 5:36 (3:82 RLDS))

Finally speaking of the restoration Zenos says:

54 And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I would are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also for mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard.
(Jacob 5:54 (3:115-117 RLDS))

Just as Ephraim must be fed by the Jewish roots of the good olive tree, our Book of Mormon understanding must be fed by the same Jewish Roots as our Bible understanding so that the Stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph may grow together from their shared Jewish roots:

12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
(2Ne. 3:12-13 (2:19-24 RLDS))

Michael Jones