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.

ABetween Heaven and Earth,@ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, full-length DVD
(Intellectual Reserve, 2005), 35:28.
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).
2

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.

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

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

Reicke, Epistles, 114.

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
Psalm 51:2
Isaiah 1:16
1:18

Acts 22:16
I Corinthians 6:11
Revelation 1:5

Wash your heart of wickedness, O Jerusalem

That you might be saved
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
Purify me from my sin.
Wash you,
Make you clean, . .
Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red as crimson,
They shall be like wool.
Be baptized and wash away your sins.
But you are washed,
But you are sanctified.
[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 ankh 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, 1st 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 ( = v, v,
).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 thoroughgoing 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 aps.
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, 24th 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
II Chronicles 4:5

2,000 baths
3,000 baths

= 44,000 liters = 11,440 gallons U.S.

= 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
Chichn Itz, 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 aps-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

52

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

1:5-8.

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.

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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, 3rd ed.,

651 n. 70.