A New Look at the Isaiah Chapters

This week in Come Follow Me we are reading 2 Nephi 1-19, which contain the first of the Isaiah chapters.  Nephi quotes, with small variation, Isaiah 2-9.  The Isaiah chapters are difficult because they is so steeped in symbolism and references to current events.  If you don't understand the current events of Isaiah's times, it is almost impossible to understand his symbolism. If you do understand the historical context, you can begin to apply what was happening in Isaiah's time to what was happening in Nephi's day. 

In these chapters, Isaiah is in Jerusalem and the city is worried because they are being threatened by the Northern tribes of Israel who have united Syria. They want to capture Jerusalem and take over the temple. Jewish leaders are considering asking for help from Egypt to defend Jerusalem, but Isaiah is urging them to not rely on Egypt, but instead rely on the Lord. He promises them that within only a few years, Israel and Syria will no longer be a threat. 

So why did Nephi spend a lot of time and effort rewriting Isaiah passages as part of his sacred record, when they were already present on the Plates of Brass?  In 2 Nephi 11, Nephi gives four reasons for including the passages;

1. Prove the truth of the coming of Christ (v. 4)

2. Show the covenants God made with their fathers (v. 5)

3. That his people might lift up their hearts and rejoice. (v. 6)

5. That his people might liken them to themselves. (v. 2, 6)

A lot has been said about how these passages foreshadow the coming of Christ.  Many messianic prophesies can be found in these chapters. That is not going to be where I will focus today.  I am more interested in how the people of Nephi might have felt "like" the people at the time of Isaiah, and how the covenants of the Lord might give them comfort. 

I am going back to my idea mentioned a couple of weeks ago, that the Lamanites might have united with indigenous people.  We know from 2 Nephi 5:20 that the Nephite's felt threatened by the Lamanites and felt compelled to make swords for his people modeled after the sword of Laban. If the Lamanites had united with indigenous people, the situation of the Nephites would have closely mirrored the situation of the Jews in the days of Isaiah. Like the Jews, the Nephites would have been a smaller, more vulnerable force facing and enemy made of their kinsmen who had united with outside groups.  Maybe, like the people of Jerusalem, the Nephites were feeling pressure to also join with outside groups in order to defend themselves against the Lamanites.  I am proposing that Nephi included these specific chapters from Isaiah to try to convince his people to remain separate from the local cultures and instead rely on the Lord to defend them from the Lamanites. I think Nephi knew that in order for his people to maintain the worship of Jehovah and their cultural identity as the covenant people of Israel, they needed to stay isolated. He might have included these passages to give his people encouragement and show that God is faithful in defending his covenant people, even against superior forces. 

Of course, we know that in Isaiah's day, Jerusalem did survive the attack of the Northern tribes, and that those tribes were soon after taken into captivity by the Assyrians and ultimately lost their cultural identity.  Through Nephi's emphasis on the words of Isaiah, the Nephites were also able to remain true to their covenants and maintain their cultural identity as followers of Jehovah for many generations.