“‘Come unto Me’ as a Technical Gospel Term” (Plus an Excursus on Saqqara)

Last updated on: January 4, 2019 at 1:13 pm by Dan Peterson

“‘Come unto Me’ as a Technical Gospel Term” (Plus an Excursus on Saqqara) 2019-01-04T13:13:01-07:00 Dan Peterson

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As it has been wont to do every single week for nearly 6.5 years, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture has published a new article on a Friday:

“‘Come unto Me’ as a Technical Gospel Term”

Abstract: The Book of Mormon repeatedly outlines a six-part definition of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but most writers within the book refer to only two or three of them at a time in a biblical rhetorical device called merismus*. Throughout the scriptures, the term “come unto Christ” in its many forms is used as part of these* merisms to represent enduring to the end. This article examines the many abbreviations of the gospel, connects the phrase “come unto Christ” with enduring to the end, and discusses some of the alternate uses of these types of phrases.

***

Zoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara, built during the Egyptian Third Dynasty, around 2670 BC, is perhaps the world’s first all-stone structure. (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

After our visit to Mit Rahina, the site of the ancient Old Kingdom capital of Memphis, we headed across the Nile River to Saqqara, which was the capital city’s original necropolis. (The land of the living, remember, was on the east bank of the Nile, in the direction of the sunrise, while the land of the dead was west of the Nile, toward the setting of the sun.) Saqqara is a favorite place of mine — in some ways, more so than the much more famous site of Giza, which is plainly visible (on clear days) to the north of Saqqara.

I like Saqqara because the sudden stark contrast between the green Nile Valley and the Sahara is plainly evident. I like it because it is the site of the Pyramid of Unas (or Wanis), in which the oldest Pyramid Texts are to be found. (The second oldest can be seen in the Pyramid of Teti, within easy walking distance.) I like it because I like the 27th-century B.C. Pyramid of Zoser (aka Djoser) and the complex that surrounds it. Zoser’s is the oldest of the pyramids, and it’s easily possible, while looking at it, to form a good idea of how the Egyptian pyramid-building tradition began.

The architect of Zoser’s pyramid was likely his chancellor Imhotep, who gained such a reputation in later centuries as a physician, poet, and all-around hero that he was eventually deified. It’s ironic, in that light, that the name Imhotep was used in the Mummy movie franchise for an evil mass-murdering zombie wizard. Why didn’t they name the villain George Washington? Or Gandhi? Or Michelangelo?

Posted from Cairo, Egypt

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