Prince, etc.

Whereas the name Sarah means 'princess,' the basic root of the word 'sar' means prince. And whereas Sarah is used as a 'proper name' for the wife of Abraham, Sarah, it was left in its Hebrew form. No character in the Bible ever carried the proper name Prince as a personal like Sarah did with 'Princess' or 'Sarah.' Thus elsewhere, 'sar' was always tranlated into prince and never left a proper name i.e. Sar. So 'sar' never appears in the bible, though one of its derivatives 'sarim' should have been quite often left as a proper reference name of 'Sarim' as it refered to the official body of the ruling 'seventy of Israel.'

Further, as is the case of many Hebrew words, 'sar' is not always translated as 'princes,' as it did not merely mean a king's son. When attempted to be applied to each member of the 'Sarim,' it could have taken on a variety of meanings depending upon which 'hat of responsiblity' that particular member of the 'Sarim' would also have taken upon himself within the society itself. Thus we can have a variey of interpreted meanings depending upon context and usage. From a modern dictionary source the following are some of the alternative 'meanings' or implied meanings that can be deduced from the Hebrew use of the word 'sar.'

1) prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain
1a) chieftain, leader
1b) vassal, noble, official (under king)
1c) captain, general, commander (military)
1d) chief, head, overseer (of other official classes)
1e) heads, princes (of religious office)
1f) elders (of representative leaders of people)
1g) merchant-princes (of rank and dignity)
1h) patron-angel
1i) Ruler of rulers (of God)
1j) warden

If one compiles all these together, one has just defined those who where the 'princely' 'elder' leaders who made up the Jewish senate, Sanhedrin, Elders of the Church, the Seventy elders, or the 'Sarim.' This governing body connected to any King's administration, were they who actually under took the running of the daily lives of the Israelites nation. Moses first instigated the organization of the Seventy Elders of Israel. That type of governing body did persist in it various forms throughout, until the time of Christ when it was referred to as the Sandhedrin. In the time of Zedekiah, it was called the 'Sarim' as recorded in the ancient records of the city of Lachish. Sar meaning 'princes' or the 'noble chief head elder ruling patriarchal princes from the various high families of the Israelite society. And just as the seventy in the time of Moses functioned under the direction of Moses or Aaron, so did the Sandhedrin have its seventy first member, the high priest who 'supervised' the Sarim. And in the book of Jeremiah, which conveys the same message, this 'ruling body' are simply translated to be the 'princes.'

Thus when the Book of Mormon in the book of First Nephi speaks of the elders and the elders of the Church, it is the same as the 'princes' to which Zedekiah felt obligated to operate in subjection to. And it is this 'Sarim' which the records of Lachish states where in charge and who actually were to blame for the 'ruin' of Jerusalem when it was destroyed by the Babylonians. Consistant with the concept of the 'Sarim' being the ruling elders of Israel, is that fact that Laban, who was a 'Captain' of the city's Garrison of 50, was never given a 'title' of Captain in the Book of Mormon, but he was established as being a member of the elders or the ruling body of the elders of the Church. The term translated as 'Church' in the Book of Mormon, meaning and implying those of the 'Hebrew,' 'Israelite,' or 'Jewish' Religion who followed after the God known as Jehovah.

Notice how all the 'interpred' meanings and roles of those listed for the the word 'sar,' could apply very aptly to any one who whould be a part of the ruling body of seventy of the Jews called the 'Sarim' by the Lachish record or translated as 'princes' in it plural form in the King James Bible. And whereas Moses the prophet historically determined the first members of the seventy elders, through the coruption of and change in Jewish society that process of selection would have changed. Joshua who was the first 'judge' in Israel, and the resulting system of judges would have likely ran parallel with the institution of the 'seventy elders of the Church.' But when the switch was make to a monarchy, then the strugle of power began between 'church' and 'state.' This struggle had its ups and downs from the time one King took over the offering of sacrifice in the temple of captured animals from the priest of the temple to the time of Zedekiah, who was such a wesk king that he could do nothing but to comply with the direction of the Sarim.

Such was one structural change which was seen even in the time of Christ between the Kings of the Jews and the body of 70, the Sandhedrin. But another effecting change was that seventy where eventually not selected by the prophet Moses or Joshua. The Levite priesthood would take over that chore. Thus the Aaronic Levi descendant High Priest, who suppervied the 'seventy' or 'sarim' would have began to select the richer more enfluentual patrons of his position and visa versa. If a person contributed much to the 'Church' or Temple, etc., then they were higher on the list to be a member of the Sarim. That is unless they where non-comformists, such as Lehi, who did not seek the same ends as rest of the Sarim and its High Priest. And of course, of the various proclaimed men of God or 'Prophets,' the Sarim would tend to favor those who would see things the way the body of the Sarim would like to have it seen. Thus in the days of Jeremiah, there is a conflict between the 'prophets of the 'princes' or the sarim, and what Jeremiah the true prophet was preaching.

A twist of interest is that the Pharsee 'party' of the Sandhedrin, during the time of Christ had been actually integated by King Solomon. That was one of those periods when the King was stronger than the 'religious elders' or Sarim. Solomon who failed himself, did instegate the Pharasees after the order of the more true religion of the faith. By the time of Christ, though of the same Jewish people and 'Sandhedrin,' an opposition party known as the Saducess was promenant, who had corrupted Jewish interpretation of the scriptures to not include a life after death and they therefore totally disbelieved in the resurrection and after life. In terms of the traditional true beliefs of the Jewish Religion, they where not much to speak of and likely such of an influence as to what to disgard out of the old teaching of the Old Testament. And their 'philosophy' of what governed a person as what they should be able to do would be more favorable to tolerating a 'dule' or 'two' faced type of personal life which would allow the activities of those who would lean toward activity of the religion of the 'grove.' And such was in the days of Jehoaikim and was the underlinings of the people of enfluence in the days of Zedekiah. And such is the nature of government when one party moves from the 'tradition' \ of the founding documents such as institued by Moses, to another base of ideals while still operating within the structure of the old system. Even in America, such diversion from the standards set by the founding fathers has been seen when one group or party begins to divert from them while still using the current status quo system to do it within.