Nephi explains Isaiah to his family (1 Nephi 22)

Nephi was orally teaching his family about Isaiah as well as writing it down. Chapter 22 is devoted to the reaction of Laman and Lemuel to Nephi's interpretation of Isaiah. As we will see in the next book of the Book of Mormon, Second Nephi, this appears to have been a turning point such that the family would soon divide into two opposing tribes.

Their main question, in 1 Nephi 22:1, was whether what Isaiah was describing was "spiritual, which shall come to pass according to the spirit and not the flesh". In other words, in today's terms, their question was somewhat loaded. They wanted to know whether it was meant to be figurative or real.

Nephi gently corrects them by saying that because the words of Isaiah were received through the Spirit, that in that sense they were spiritual. They were also temporal (literal) in that they would someday come to pass.

He describes what today we call "the diaspora", or the great scattering of the twelve tribes of Israel such that ten of those tribes were completely lost in the great populations of the earth.

Nephi goes on to explain that it is through the Gentiles that Israel will be gathered back to their ancestral homeland.

Verses 7-9 describe how the Gentiles would found a great nation which would be instrumental in scattering Laman and Lemuel's posterity. Then, the Lord would restore the Gospel through the Gentiles and gather together the remnant of the people left over. In the LDS Church, we understand the fulfillment of this prophecy to be the founding of the United States of America and the various Latin American countries by European nations (what the Jews would consider "Gentiles").

The Lord would use these events as a catalyst for gathering from all parts of the world every living descendant (and deceased, through restored temple ordinances) of the house of Israel, most particularly those of the lost ten tribes.

At the end of the gathering, the Lord will destroy any worldly organizations that rise up to fight against His Gospel and who try to persecute His servants. He will miraculously preserve the righteous during that terrible time. "Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet [Isaiah], they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire."

People who read the Bible today often ask the question "In what way will Satan be bound when Christ comes?" While it is tempting to think of Satan, the individual, tied up with ropes so he can't bother us anymore, he is a spirit with free will and cannot be contained in that way, even by God, who will never force anyone to do anything against their will.

Rather, the Book of Mormon clearly teaches that because of the faith in Christ of those righteous people remaining after the destruction, they will be righteous (Christ's atonement covering their sins) "And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth."

Quite literally, they will not be tempted by Satan because they will not have a desire to sin because of their faith in Christ. They will know where such things lead, based on the experience of witnessing the destruction of the world, and will instead reject temptations when they come and choose to obey only righteous principles.

The overall message Nephi has for his brothers is to repent so that they can be counted among the righteous when the Lord comes the second time at the end of the world.

30 Wherefore, my brethren, I would that ye should consider that the things which have been written upon the plates of brass are true; and they testify that a man must be obedient to the commandments of God.

31 Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen.

Great Are the Words of Isaiah

I've been considering how to approach chapter 21 and other Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon. They are so rich with meaning, doctrine, and history that it would be impossible to cover them in any great length in blog posts. There would simply be too many verses to comment on to hold anyone's attention for very long.

I don't believe in coincidence. "Everything happens for a reason", to quote John Locke on my currently favorite TV show "Lost". A couple of days ago I "happened upon" a site called Diigo.com. It is a social bookmarking tool that goes a step further than just showing the world your bookmarks. It lets anyone who installs it view highlights and notes that other Diigo have left behind on a particular web site. It's perfect for digging deep into the scriptures on the blog without copying and pasting great numbers of verses to show the context of the discussion. I had seen others like it, but this one seemed really good for highlighting and annotation of http://scriptures.lds.org.

As an experiment, I've "Diigo"d (is there a Web verb for this yet?) the first chapter in Isaiah by borrowing from the notes of famed and faithful LDS religious texts scholar Hugh W. Nibley. The notes are the transcript of a speech he gave at BYU's sixth annual Sperry symposium in 1978.

This is for Isaiah 1, which is not quoted in the Book of Mormon, but is nevertheless an important summary of the tone and topics of the book of Isaiah and helps prepare us for the parts quoted in the Book of Mormon. Since Nibley, given his extensive Middle Eastern languages background, knew more about ancient scripture than I could ever hope to know, his notes seemed like a good place to start.

So, download Diigo and then read Hugh Nibley's commentary on Isaiah 1 in-line with the actual verses at http://scriptures.lds.org/en/isa/1. You can join the "American Testament" group on Diigo and contribute your own public sticky notes or get sticky notes updates via email.

Nephi Quotes Isaiah (1 Nephi 20)

In chapters 20 and 21 of 1st Nephi, we find a peculiar thing. Nephi begins quoting Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet who lived over 150 years before Nephi and Nephi quotes him extensively here and later on in 2nd Nephi. When the Savior visits America in 3rd Nephi (a different "Nephi") He also quotes Isaiah. What was there in Isaiah's writings that intrigued Nephi and that was worthy of quotation by the Savior?

Something you'll find as you get into "the Isaiah chapters" of the Book of Mormon is that it breaks up the historical flow of the book, thus becoming a bit jarring to the reader. Ask any member of the Church how they feel about the Isaiah chapters and they'll readily admit that it feels like walking through peanut butter. They often state that it's because Isaiah uses names and concepts that seem foreign and out of context to what Nephi has been saying.

This is why it seems astounding that, in 2nd Nephi 25, after quoting Isaiah extensively, Nephi proclaims:

...for behold, my soul delighteth in plainness unto my people, that they may learn.

What can he mean by "plainness"? A closer inspection of verse 4 tells us.

Wherefore, hearken, O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my words; for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the ^aspirit of ^bprophecy. But I give unto you a ^cprophecy, according to the spirit which is in me; wherefore I shall prophesy according to the ^dplainness which hath been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father; for behold, my soul delighteth in ^eplainness unto my people, that they may learn.

But behold, I proceed with mine own prophecy, according to my ^aplainness; in the which I ^bknow that no man can err; nevertheless, in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass.

The spirit of prophecy is defined by John the Divine in Revelation 19:10:

10 And I ^afell at his feet to ^bworship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy ^cfellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the ^dtestimony of Jesus is the spirit of ^eprophecy.

Isaiah, who was a man of no small status in Jerusalem and was a extremely educated scholar, used high-order Hebraic poetry, complex imagery, and symbolism to transmit the message to those who were faithful enough to discern its meaning. Like the Savior using parables, Isaiah "hid" the things of the Lord from those who would not be prepared to hear them in order to keep them from condemning themselves by reading it in plainer language and still rejecting it. In other words, wicked people who didn't have the spirit of prophecy, or a testimony of Jesus Christ, would never understand how plain these words were; nor should they for they would then trifle with sacred things.

As with all things of God, first comes a testimony that Jesus is the Christ, then comes understanding of prophecies about Him. Isaiah's mission was clearly to prophesy of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone did the Savior chose to quote Isaiah above all the prophets. Anyone who listens closely to the libretto of G.F. Handel's Messiah will detect that Isaiah was focused principally on the Savior's life.

With that in mind, let's proceed with a quick summary of what Nephi is trying to get across to his audience by quoting Isaiah 48.

The first key to understanding Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon and in the LDS King James Version of the Bible is to first look at the chapter heading. That will give you an idea of what you should seek to comprehend. While you should definitely read the entire chapter, there is not sufficient space in this ideally short blog post to cover it all. The critical verses are noted below along with the principal messages of this chapter.

1. Verses 3 through 6 - The Lord reveals his purposes to Israel.
   
2. Verses 10 and 20 through 21 - They have been chosen in the furnace of affliction and are to go forth from Babylon

Here's the breakdown:

Message 1

3 Behold, I have declared the ^aformer things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. I did show them suddenly.

4 And I did it because I knew that thou art obstinate [we are all in need of a Savior], and thy ^aneck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

5 And I have even from the beginning declared to thee; before it came to pass I ^ashowed them thee; and I showed them for fear lest thou shouldst say—Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them [God is whom we should praise, not idols].

6 Thou hast seen and heard all this; and will ye ^anot declare them [missionary work that would accompany the Savior's ministry]? And that I have showed thee new things [new covenant between God and man] from this time, even hidden things [prophecy of His coming], and thou didst not know them.

Message 2

10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of ^aaffliction [a type or symbol of the suffering of the Savior].
20 ^aGo ye forth of Babylon, flee [Christ's refusal to commit sin, the imperative to follow His example] ye from the ^bChaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this [missionary work], utter to the end of the earth; say ye: The Lord hath redeemed his ^cservant Jacob [the Atonement].

21 And they ^athirsted not [Christ is the living water]; he led them through the deserts [Christ guides us through afflictions]; he caused the waters to flow out of the ^brock for them ; he clave the rock also and the waters gushed out [a type of Christ's side being pierced by a spear on the cross].

So, whenever you encounter the phrase "Compare Isaiah" in a chapter heading while reading the Book of Mormon, be sure to switch your frame of mind to thinking of how what Isaiah says relates to the Savior.