Isaiah class 2

Thoughts from the second of ten classes, Thursday, October 15, 2009

In this week's class we spent the entire two hours reading and discussing a single chapter of Isaiah, chapter 48, the first of many quoted by Nephi in the Book of Mormon (see 1 Nephi 20). With only eight sessions remaining, it is clear we will not cover many of the 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah.

Although Avraham Gileadi led an interesting, stimulating discussion, it was challenging for Michael and me to take detailed notes while trying to keep up with what he was saying. There were moments when I did not even try. There was a lot more class discussion this week, a lot of questions about what we were reading or what Avraham was teaching, and some of the time we were clearly sidetracked on tangents. Compounding the problem was his reading from his translation of Isaiah while I was trying to follow along in my King James Bible. The sense was clearly similar, but the wording differed significantly between the two versions. (My take on the two, after further reflection, is that the King James translation is far more poetic, while the Gileadi translation from Hebrew is actually easier to understand in contemporary English.)

Throughout the rest of this report, whenever I quote from Isaiah, I quote from the Gileadi translation and show it in italics. There were comments at pretty much each verse we read from this chapter, but I did not take notes in each case.

1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,

you who are named Israel--

though you stem from the lineage of Judah--

who take oaths in the name of the Lord

and invoke the God of Israel,

though not in truth or in righteousness,

The following chapter of Isaiah, chapter 49, begins with similar invocation, except in that chapter it is: "Hear me, O isles; listen, you distant peoples." The translation of that verse in the Book of Mormon adds a preface to that invitation to those upon the isles and in distant places: "And again, Hearken, O ye house of Israel, all ye that are broken off and are driven out because of the wickedness of the pastors of my people; yea, all ye that are broken off, that are scattered abroad, who are of my people, O house of Israel" (1 Nephi 21:1).

The reference to "the pastors of my people" is reminiscent of both Ezekiel and Jeremiah, who refer to the pastors as shepherds.

In other chapters, Isaiah refers to the Lord raising up "righteousness from the east" (Isaiah 41:2; or "the righteous man from the east" in the King James Version). This is the Lord's latter-day servant, a person who is perfect on the seraph level, who keeps all the commandments required for that level. He exemplifies righteousness on the level of translated beings. In other places, the same person is referred to as "a bird of prey from the east, from a distant land the man who performs my counsel" (Isaiah 46:11; or "a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country" in the King James Version). John the Apostle refers to the same person as the "angel ascending from the east" (Revelation 7:2; see also D&C 77:9).

This righteousness (or righteous servant) prepares a righteous people who can be ready to receive the Lord. The Redeemer, on the other hand, is referred to as Salvation (see Isaiah 62:11).

2 who call yourselves of the holy city,

upheld by the God of Israel,

whose name is the Lord of Hosts:

3 The prophecies of the events of the past

I made known long beforehand;

no sooner did they issue from my mouth,

than I caused them to be announced.

Then, suddenly, I acted and they came about.

How does the Lord tell the end from the beginning? Well, he tells it through prophets ("the prophecies of the events of the past . . . made known long beforehand"). But it is because He orchestrates the end from the beginning. Ancient history becomes an allegory of the last days. Isaiah, Nephi, and numerous other prophets use a selective selection of events from the past to foretell the future. (See, for example, the comment about Moses and the yet-to-occur latter-day exodus back to Jackson County, Missouri, that appears following verse 21 below.)

Everything that happens in the latter days is a shadow of what happened in the past.

The previous Saturday evening Avraham Gileadi had held a public Feast of the Tabernacles celebration, which apparently many in the class had participated in. He said that it is good to be familiar with what that and other ancient feasts teach us because the events, or similar events, will occur again. History is going to repeat itself. We need to be wholly familiar with the prophetic milieu.

4 For I knew how stubborn you were--

your neck was an iron sinew, your brow brazen--

5 therefore I told you them beforehand;

I announced them to you before they transpired,

lest you should say, My idols did it;

my graven and wrought images caused it!

We are so full of pride. We do not realize how nothing we are in God's sight. We put a lot of stock in "our idols," the technology and images and toys that define our modern world, that keep us tightly tethered to Babylon.

6 But you have heard 'the whole vision';

how is it you do not proclaim it?

Yet as of now, I announce to you new things,

things withheld and unknown to you,

Where is "the whole vision," the seeing of the end from the beginning, recorded? Well, in a couple of places that we know of: in the book of Isaiah and the in the book of Revelation. But it is all in code. We have to search it out, diligently, like learning a new language. It won't come with casual or cursory reading.

And there are other places, not currently available to us, where the end from the beginning is written, as Nephi reminds us: "And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel" (1 Nephi 14:26).

7 things now coming into being, not hitherto,

things you have not heard of before,

lest you should say, Indeed I knew them!

And why does He spring these new things on us? Individually to try us, test us, and prove us. And collectively, to cause a division among the people.

8 You have not heard them,

nor have you known them;

before this your ears have not been open to them.

For I knew you would turn treacherous;

you were called a transgressor from the womb.

9 For my own name's sake I have bridled my wrath;

on account of my renown

I have shown restraint toward you

by not entirely destroying you.

Isaiah here refers to the occasion, which we mentioned last week, when the Lord God Jehovah wanted to destroy the children of Israel and make of Moses a great nation (see Exodus 32:7–14). Moses on this occasion stood as a mediator between God and rebellious Israel. He served a proxy role, the clue being the reference to "my own name's sake."

10 See, I am refining you, though not as silver;

I am testing you in the crucible of affliction.

Again the notion of trying, testing, proving. Seeing what we are made of. Refining us, etc. And it seems to happen best, or perhaps only, through affliction.

11 For my own sake, on my own account, I do it,

that my name be not dishonored,

nor my glory, which I give to no other.

12 Hear me, O Jacob, and Israel, my elect:

I am he who was at the first,

and I am he who is at the last.

The Lord God Jehovah is the same member of the Godhead that we know as Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Redeemer, Alpha and Omega, the first and the last (see Revelation 1:11, 17).

13 It was my hand that founded the earth,

my right hand that stretched out the heavens;

when I call them, they arise at once.

Scriptural references to the Lord's hand (in verse 13) or to His arm (in verse 14) refer to those who help Him, those who are His servants. When the Lord was creating the earth, we were surely there helping out, because that is the way He does things. What flower or plant might we have designed?

14 All of you, assemble and hear:

Who among you foretold these things?

It is him the Lord loves,

who shall perform his will in Babylon;

his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

15 I myself have spoke it, and also called him;

I have brought him, and I will prosper his way.

16 Come near me and hear this:

I have not made predictions in secret;

at their coming to pass, I have been present.

Now my Lord the Lord has sent me;

his Spirit is in me.

17 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,

your Redeemer:

I the Lord your God instruct you to your good,

guiding you in the way you should go.

18 Had you but obeyed my commandments,

your peace would have been as a river,

your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

Unconditional covenants start at the celestial level. Covenants at every level below that are conditional covenants.

19 your offspring would have been

as the sands in numbers,

your descendants as many as their grains.

Their names would not have been cut off

and obliterated from my presence.

The promise of posterity was the first covenant blessing. A lack of posterity was a covenant curse.

20 Go forth out of Babylon, flee from Chaldea!

Make this announcement with resounding voice;

broadcast it to the end of the earth.

Say, The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.

21 They thirsted not when he led them through arid places;

he caused water to flow for them from the rock;

he cleaved the rock and water gushed out.

Although Isaiah is speaking of the latter-day going forth out of Babylon, of our exodus out of the world, of the redemption of Zion, he holds up Moses as a type and refers to events from the exodus out of Egypt. Moses is a type. The latter-day servant of the Lord is like unto Moses.

Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord revealed concerning the latter-day redemption of Zion, an event yet future to us, "Behold, I way unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power;

"Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel. . . .

"And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be" (D&C 103:15-16, 18).

22 But there is no peace, says the Lord,

for the wicked.

Reminiscent of Alma's teaching to his son Corianton in the Book of Mormon: "Wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10).

The rest of my notes undoubtedly refer to thoughts Brother Gileadi expressed in response to questions that were raised, or tangents we were on, and do not fit neatly under any of the verses from chapter 48 quoted above:

Concerning the notion of individuals serving as types, an idea we explored the previous week, Cyrus serves as a type. He was the Persian conqueror of Babylon. David, Moses, and Enoch are also types.

One of things Enoch did was to get his people up to the level of the elect. Enoch did it, and Melchizedek did it. David, unfortunately, did not attain to that level. His sin against Uriah and his wife caused him to fall from his exaltation (see D&C 136:39).

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, "A murderer, for instance, one that sheds innocent blood, cannot have forgiveness. David sought repentance at the hand of God carefully with tears, for the murder of Uriah; but he could only get it through hell: he got a promise that his soul should not be left in hell.

"Although David was a king, he never did obtain the spirit and power of Elijah and the fullness of the Priesthood; and the Priesthood that he received, and the throne and kingdom of David is to be taken from him and given to another by the name of David in the last days, raised up out of his lineage" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 339).

The Prophet Joseph Smith continued receiving revelations throughout his entire life because he had an open mind and always wanted to know more. Joseph cautioned us not to set up bounds and stakes (or limits) to what the Almighty can do or can teach us. When we do that, we damn ourselves. We stop our own progress.

Real numbers are important in the Lord's scheme of things. Numbers such as three, seven, twelve, twenty-four, etc. often have particular significance. Fourteen is the numerical value of the name "David" in Hebrew. "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations" (Matthew 1:17).