Children of Israel's Awareness of Christ's Role & Atonement

[clint_peck]

I'm a GD teacher in our ward and I'm being forced (in a good way) to learn, understand and then teach the Old Testament in a way I haven't before.

There is a lot of symbolism in the Old Testament, most, if not all, of it pointing to Christ and his Atonement. My question is how aware of Christ's role as Savior and Redeemer and of his Atonement where the Children of Israel? It's great for us to pull out types and shadows that can help us today and help us receive a greater understanding of Christ and the Atonement but is it possible that we're pulling out lessons that the Children of Israel weren't even aware of at the time? And if so then are we to take from that that the old testament was written more for us than them? Wouldn't it be more important that the children of Israel understand why they're being asked to do the things they're being asked to do?

So I guess it boils down to how aware were the children of Israel as to why they were doing what they were doing and having the experiences they were having? Are there scriptural references to back that up?

Hopefully that makes sense. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[rameumptom]

There is evidence from both ancient OT and Middle Eastern sources, as well as the Book of Mormon that most Israelites were not aware of the Messiah connection.

Jacob tells us that the Jews "looked beyond the mark", meaning that the symbols and signs of the Messiah were missed by them, because they sought mysteries and ideas that went in other directions. Much of the understanding of Messianism in the Old Testament does not occur in great detail until after the Diaspora (Jewish captivity).

And with the Nephites, their Messianism developed over the years, also. Lehi's understanding of the Messiah was incomplete, compared to Jacob, who was told that his name would be Jesus Christ. In fact, in 1 Nephi 1, Lehi sees one like unto the Son of God descend, but does not specifically tell us that he has seen the Messiah. It is perhaps later when he makes this connection with the Vision of the Tree of Life (Nephi definitely makes the connection at that time).

The symbols WERE suppose to lead them to Christ. But most of the Jews failed to read the signs properly. Even in Jesus' mortality, when the Jews were watching for the Messiah to come, they were expecting someone to come who would physically free them from the Romans and other conquerors. they were not expecting Christ to come to atone for sins and take away the animal sacrifices of the temple.