Mosiah 12-16 - Abinadi: A Study in Courage

I want to start with a thought I introduced in my previous post about the warnings Abinadi gave the people of Noah. After two years, he returns to prophecy to the people. He says because they haven’t repented, the consequences are worse. Not only will they be brought into captivity, now if they don’t repent, they’ll be destroyed.

This doesn’t go over too well with the people. They capture and bring him to Noah. In Noah’s court, he is summarily condemned as a troublemaker and mad, worthy of death. Then the miracle begins. God protects him and allows him to give his message. He teaches of the preparatory role of the Mosaic Law and of the coming of Jesus Christ and the law He will bring.

In doing so, he quotes one of my most favorite passages of scripture, Isaiah 53. Who isn’t moved by the poetic power of such phrases as, “with His stripes, we are healed?” Or, “all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him, the iniquity of us all?” This often brings me to tears to read it.

One of the tactics I use to make it more real for me is a simple word substitution. If you replace “the Lord” with “Heavenly Father,” “Jesus Christ” for “him” and your name for “us” or “we,” it will drive home the power of this passage and show you just how personal our salvation is. We are unique individuals to Them. I am convinced that during the Atonement, the Savior saw each of us, with all our weaknesses, sins, and sorrows and said, in effect, “I do this for you, because I love you.”

I marvel at that. Such is the power of the message Abinadi delivered to Noah and to one of his priests, Alma.

2 Nephi 27 - Isaiah 29 and the Translation

This chapter is Nephi’s last comment and citation of Isaiah. Based upon chapter 29, it has more changes from the Masoretic version found in the King James Bible than any other chapter. This one foretells the advent of the Book of Mormon and the efforts taken by Joseph Smith to get it translated.

The book “From Darkness into Light” by Michael Hubbard MacKay and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, is an excellent history of that effort. From the book, I learned Martin Harris left on the trip because of a vision he’d received from the Lord. He also wanted to go to get a scholar’s confirmation that the characters were authentic. All Joseph knew was they were ancient. He didn’t know they were “Reformed Egyptian” till late in the translation process.

Joseph sent him for a different reason, to find someone who could translate the plates. He’d spent all 1827 studying the characters on them, not knowing the Seer stones or the Urim and Thumim would do that for him. He was anxious to figure out how to translate the plates. It wasn’t until Harris returned that he finally learned he would do the translating. Up until that time, he hadn’t learned the stones could be used to translate, instead he used them to keep the plates safe.

It wasn't until they were almost finished with the work that they read this chapter and saw how Harris' trip fulfilled the prophecies it contains.

2 Nephi 24 - Winding up Isaiah

It’s hard to believe that I’m through the Isaiah chapters in Nephi. Well, almost, there’s just one more after this one, Isaiah 29 but after that we won’t see him until Abinadi quotes him at length in his sermon to king Noah. After that, we won’t read of him until the Savior quotes him.

But on with this chapter. In it, Isaiah speaks of the final rewards of how we live in this life. He resumes using the pattern of alternating consequences for the righteous and the evil right at the end of the chapter.

People marvel at how small and insignificant Satan is when they see him bereft of his power. Their epitaph will be, “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble?” They won’t believe what they see at that day.

The whole chapter is a recitation on the destruction of the evil in this world. The centerpiece of it being the end of Satan’s power and the revelation of his true appearance without it. Kinda makes you wonder, who’s side do you want to be on doesn’t it.

He has so much now because we give it to him. God’s power is within Him. From it flows His love for us. Satan on the other hand has only what he can deceive us into giving him. It’s quite the contrast.

The chapter ends with a couple of Hebrew parallelisms portraying the fate of the righteous: the firstborn of the poor will feed and the needy will lie down in safety while the nation of the wicked is dissolved with none to deliver them. As we’ll read later on, God is with us through the end of all things. Satan can’t. Additionally, he abandons us when he has no further use for us.

2 Nephi 17-18 - Trust God

If you ever face a trial or adversity that seems certain to overwhelm and destroy you, then you’ll want to remember the lesson of 2 Nephi 17 and 18. Syria and Ephriam, the Northern Kingdom, combined forces to attack Judah, the Southern Kingdom. Ahaz was the king of Judah at the time. Egypt was the other super-power of the day. Under the conditions, Ahaz felt a lot of pressure to ally with Egypt to protect the country from the pending war with Syria.

Acting on inspiration from God, Isaiah went to Ahaz and said, in effect, don’t worry about them, they won’t hurt you. They have problems of their own and are no real threat to Judah.

Then God inspired Isaiah to offer Ahaz a sign that this would be. I don’t know that much about him, but to his credit he demurred, saying, “I will not ask nor tempt the Lord.” So, instead He offers a sign, the birth of the Messiah.

I thought, how odd, that the sign of proof that these two nations were no threat, is a future event. So why bother? Then it occurred, Isaiah wasn’t writing this for Ahaz, but for us.

He then warns that allying with Egypt would lead to ruin.

The lesson for us… We will in this life face difficult trials and times of such adversity, we’re certain we’ll be overwhelmed by them. But as Isaiah says in 2 Nephi 18:14, let the Lord be your fear… turn to Him for help. As proof that things will work out, consider the Savior’s birth and life, the offered sign of God’s mercy and love for you.

Don’t turn to Egypt, the “thinking man’s” rational thing to do for that will only lead to ruin. Turn to God instead and have faith. That has been, is, and always will be the only safe way through the trials of this life.

2 Nephi 16 - Jehovah, Seraphs and the Temple

In Isaiah 6/2Nephi 16, Isaiah recounts a vision in which he sees Jehovah in the temple. In Revelations 4, John’s revelation changes tone from being one of counsel to the seven churches in Asia Minor to an apocalyptic recitation of what he sees. While Isaiah sees inside a temple, a place where God lives or visits, John sees into Heaven where God resides.

In both places, there are “winged” creatures. Isaiah calls them Seraphim, John says they are “beasts.” They have common qualities in that both have six veils or wings and that they both sing praises to God. Did both men see the same thing? It’s interesting to contemplate, especially when you realize they are separated by nine hundred years. Word meanings can change a lot in that time.

What I found most interesting in this is in Isaiah and the purification he goes through. Isaiah cries he is unworthy to behold the vision. In response an angel comes (one of the Seraphim??) holding a hot coal in tongs and purifies him by touching it to his lips.

This is a ritual purification: touching your tongue with a glowing coal will not purify your soul but destroy your tongue. So, where on earth do we have a place where we can be in God’s presence and be purified through a ritual? Yep, the Temple.

I don’t know why it is, but God uses actions to teach abstract principles. We eat a piece of bread and drink a small cup of water to help us remember the Savior. Likewise, we do things in the temple to help us learn eternal truths and make covenants with God. There’s a lot more to these actions and accounts than meets the eye. It’s the Holy Ghost that explains it all.

2 Nephi 13-15 - A Tale of Two Peoples

From a doctrinal perspective, Isaiah’s warnings to the people in 2 Nephi 13-15 are repetitive and reinforce Revelations 1-7. Revelations 12 gives the added dimension that the evil in the world is due to Satan waging war against the righteous. This is not just a war of clashing armies. It is also a war of deception, calumny, libel and temptation heaped upon all in an attempt to draw men from God.

Isaiah warns it is pride, manifest in ignoring God’s counsel, that leads to wickedness. John shows how Satan appeals to it with the allure of power, wealth and moral debauchery. Isaiah warns that those who ignore God to follow their own counsel will rue the day. Both show God’s wrath will lay desolate the lands and lives of those who choose to follow Satan.

Amidst all the warnings of moral and physical destruction, are the promises to the righteous of God intervening in their behalf. They also show the great blessings which will come to those who endure these difficult times.

Like Dicken’s in his “Tale of Two Cities,” these will be the best of times for those who are righteous in that they will see many blessings from God. It will likewise be the worst of times as they, along with the wicked, wade through unspeakable trials. The difference between them is the righteous will abide the day. They will survive with their faith, burnished and intact. Not so for the rest.

2 Nephi 12 - Isaiah 2 - Revelations 1-3: the Introduction

This is a fitting introduction to the Isaiah passages because it sums up in one chapter what the rest of his prophecies say: humble yourselves, turn to the Lord and live by revelation and the light of His word. If you don’t, the day will come when your pride and everything on which it’s based will be taken from you.

There’s no linear or positional relationship between the contents Isaiah and Revelations. Yet, a weak correlation exists in that John’s counsel to the seven churches in Asia acts as a prelude to the rest of the book. Like Isaiah, the gist of Revelations is summed in the first three chapters: be righteous and be blessed. Ignore the Lord and suffer grievous consequences.

Where John spoke to the seven churches, Isaiah spoke to all the House of Israel. Indirectly, they both speak to us. The warnings are the same. John speaks more of the blessings that come than Isaiah. Both offer stern warnings to pride and disobedience.

As I’ve pondered on how to compare the two, I will focus on the individual rather than the last-day application of these passages. Enjoy!

Another Primer on Isaiah and Revelations

A key to understanding Isaiah is its applicability in three different cultural contexts. One is now only interesting, another is important and the third is crucial for us to understand. The least important context is that of his original audience, the people and times of pre-exilic Israel and Judah. The events, people and places he wrote about, they all knew. As Nephi said, because of his learning of the Jews, Isaiah was easy for him to understand. But it all happened a long time ago. For us it’s just history.

The second most important context is for us, the people of the end-of-times. Like the Book of Mormon, it was written for our day. Its rich, literary style is filled with inspired types. The names of those places and people are types of nations and roles we will see in the participants and events of our day. Events which will mirror ones in our day. For example, Egypt was a waning geopolitical super-power. In the context of our day, Egypt represents the United States of America. You can read it replacing the one with the other and have a correct understanding of what’s going to happen. Where the Spirit comes in, is understanding who and what all the types represent.

The last and most important context for understanding Isaiah is it's individual applicability. I think this is why the Savior and Nephi both thought he was so important. For example, his warnings to Judah to rely upon God not Egypt for help, is counsel we all should heed. In Nephi’s words, we should lean not on the arm of flesh. Understanding Isaiah on this level requires the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It's the same for Revelations. It has these three contexts. The latter-day event context is important, but the personal applicability of his teachings are vital. Studied together, the latter-day context is more easily understood. Studied together, the role and need of the temple in the personal context becomes clear.

2 Nephi 10-11 - The Windup to Isaiah

In this passage, Jacob finished his sermon on the coming of the Savior and the relationship the Jews and Gentiles will have in the coming times. Nephi summarizes his brother’s comments by explaining Jacob saw the Savior as he and Isaiah had. He wanted their testimonies available to his people so they would have these as proof of God’s existence and of the Savior’s importance.

So then, at the end of Chapter 11, he introduces Isaiah. Remember, Nephi saw our day as did Isaiah as did John the Revelator. It’s in chapter 12 that the major copying of Isaiah begins. It’s interesting that Nephi starts with what we know today as chapter two and not one. Since he doesn’t quote all the Isaiah we have, we can assume only that he didn’t think it was needed. What he already quoted a couple chapters earlier flies in the face of contemporary bible scholarship.

Modern Biblical scholars assume the Book of Isaiah is composed of the writings of different authors, three in particular known today as Proto-, Deutero-, and Tritio- Isaiah. One of the reasons for assuming multiple authors is some passages speak of events far in the future of Proto-Isaiah's time. They assume the history written by the others was done so “after the fact.” The Book of Mormon disputes this assertion by containing passages attributed to Deutero-Isaiah. Scholars maintain these two wrote after the time Lehi left Jerusalem. Their presence in the Book of Mormon shows Deutero-Isaiah’s contributions occurred earlier than contemporary scholars think.

I can’t dispute the differences in literary style in Isaiah. Multiple authors apparently did write it. We see something like that in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Alma has three authors. Helaman has two plus heavy editorial commentary by Mormon. Third Nephi and Mosiah both have multiple authors. So, could there be more than one contributor to Isaiah? Yes.

But, why can’t God speak of future events as if they already happened? Why can’t He speak in precise detail of those same events? Only the blinded hubris of man demands Deutero-Isaiah wrote after the fact, not before. As for me, there’s room in my faith to allow for multiple, inspired authors of Isaiah. I just think, if there is Deutero-Isaiah, he added his part before Nephi got the plates from Laban.

2 Nephi 3-6 - The Separation

The concentrated presentation of great doctrines continues through this section of the narrative. It starts with Lehi reciting the prophecies of Joseph, Son of Jacob, of the coming of a Moses and of a future Joseph who would restore the Gospel and do a great work among the people. This also contains Nephi’s lamentation and praise of God known as the “Psalm of Nephi.” It ends with more recitation of Isaiah by Nephi's brother, Jacob.

There is a lot to cover here. But as I’m not writing to discuss the content so much as my thoughts about it, I’ll write what impresses me.

Remember, Joseph Smith translated this passage last. By the time he got to it, not counting the lost Book of Lehi, nearly 90 percent of the work was done. I can’t speculate on the Book of Lehi’s contents other than to say it was probably much more of a historical narrative with lessons drawn from what happened… Just like what we have from Mosiah forward. So what happens here? Joseph reads/translates the prophecy about a future Joseph, named after his father who would be the instrument of God to bless a future people.

A review… God unfolds things to us not all at once, but in bite-sized pieces so we can assimilate and process them. When He unloads a lot of information, you run the risk of having Nephi’s experience when he saw the future destruction of his people… it was devastating. So, in His mercy, God gives things to us in smaller amounts.

Such is what happened here with Joseph. He’d been told to this point, that his name would be had for good and evil. Now, he sees that not only is he bringing forth scripture, he’s going to do a lot more. He realizes his life mission is already set and that through him God is going to restore the authority and organization needed to carry the message in the Book of Mormon to the world. I wonder what conversations he had with Emma as they talked about these things?

1 Nephi 99-22 - A Primer on Isaiah

This finishes out First Nephi. It’s an interesting segue in that we are introduced to Isaiah. First, Nephi explains how the two sets of records came to be, then he launches into the future-history of the Jews and Gentiles and he uses Isaiah to tell it.

In Chapter Nineteen, Nephi tells us how the Lord first instructed him to make the plates and keep a record on them. Once he did that, the Lord then instructs him to make another set. It’s an insight into how the Lord operates with us. He gives us what we need in the moment then, once we’ve finished that, He gives us the next step. Always He has the end goal, our salvation in mind. I recommend it as an approach we should take too. Keep the eternal perspective, but focus on the now to do the steps which lead to that long range goal.

In Chapters Twenty to the end, we are introduced to Isaiah. Nephi doesn’t actually introduce him other than to say he used Isaiah to more fully persuade them (us) to believe in the Lord. He records Isaiah 48 in Chapter Twenty-One, then he explains it.

This is a personal chapter for Nephi because the prophecies Isaiah wrote are what Lehi and Nephi experienced. Read 1 Nephi 21:1. It's a summary of 1 Nephi 1-2. It's worth pondering.

If you want to understand Isaiah, the last two chapters are a primer on how to do it. In one chapter you have “Isaiah-speak” and in the other you have “Nephi-speak” saying the same thing. Nephi also explains you need the Spirit to understand Isaiah. With all these tools in place and once you master it, all the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi will be much easier to understand.

3 Nephi 22-23 - Isaiah

Surely one of the greatest Old Testament prophets is Isaiah! After quoting him extensively, the Savior gives a unique endorsement found nowhere else in all the scriptures: “Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.”

Isaiah didn’t just prophecy with clarity and power, he wrote it in poetry. We don’t see it so much because much of the artistic beauty has been lost in the translation from Hebrew into English. Some of it remains: Hebrew poetry doesn’t so much rhyme, as it is very structural in nature, like a Shakespearean sonnet. I’m by no means a Hebrew scholar much less an Isaiah scholar, but I know enough to see the strong parallelism in the writing. I’ve seen a book which had Isaiah rendered in verse form. The imagery and messages were much easier to see in that version.

Isaiah was a poet and a prophet.

Because he wrote in verse, the face value meanings are less clear than simple prose. Once you see the verse and get what he’s doing however, the power of the meaning is amplified. It’s my opinion the depth and scope of his prophecies were protected from ignorant editors because of it. It’s also why Nephi chose to incorporate so much of Isaiah in his record. He understood him. He saw the verse, he was educated enough its power and beauty and messages that he could read and understand it all.

Today, while few of us understand Hebrew poetry, we can all understand the power and insights of the Holy Ghost. Just as Isaiah’s words were translated from Reformed Egyptian to English for Joseph Smith by the power of God, by that same power, we can have the meaning transmitted across the centuries to our hearts. What a great blessing!

3 Nephi 20 - Feeding the Multitude and Isaiah

Two things struck me as I read through this chapter with the first being the Sacrament which the Savior administers to the multitude. The other is his quoting and paraphrasing of Isaiah.

First, the Sacrament and feeding the multitude: The day before, the Savior has bread and wine brought and He administers the sacrament to the disciples. He teaches them about it and then we have the amazing experience where He prays for and blesses the children and heals the sick, the maimed and afflicted.

On this second day, no bread or wine is asked for. He provides it miraculously and administers it to the disciples and then has them administer it to the gathered multitudes. It’s reminiscent of when the Savior fed the 5000, but here He associates this feeding with the covenants in the Sacrament ordinance.

Thereafter He begins to teach the people and makes this reference to Isaiah: “Ye remember that I spake unto you and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled,” and here’s what struck me most. “Behold, they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them.”

There is a sermon in this. The gist of it is being, the Lord expects us to study and learn from what He’s already revealed. By implication you can also. See, we won’t receive more until we’ve learned what we can from what we already have. One application of this principle is, until we, or at least enough of us, understand all the Book of Mormon that we have and need more, we won’t get the rest it.

The rest of the chapter is an exposition of the Nephites’ future as written in Isaiah. As you read through it you can see where He quotes Isaiah and then expounds on it. It makes for interesting reading when you consider the gentiles the Savior is speaking of is us.