Isaiah
"JEHOVAH
SAVES" "THE LORD IS
SALVATION"
770-701
(684)BC
President Packer's 1st Isaiah experience and mine (1981)
Water in the Tub and D&C 52:14
We learn more from what we discover than from what we are taught.
Were it not for modern revelation, we would be as much in the dark as
everyone else.
3 Isaiah's - A. 1-39 B. 40-55 C. 55-60 Book of Mormon - Isaiah 2-55:1
Acts 8:26-38 - "I do not claim distinction as a scholar of the
scriptures. The reading of our scriptures, for me, is not the pursuit of
scholarship. Rather it is a love affair with the work of the Lord and that of
his prophets." (GBHinckley March 10, 1985)
WHO?
Isaiah,
the son of Amoz, was born about 770-765 BC when the world powers were Egypt,
Assyria and Persia. Micah (south), Hosea (north) and Amos (from south, but
preached north) were contemporaries. During his ministry (722 BC) the northern
tribes were carried captive into Assyria. This would place him about 100 years
after Elijah and about 100 years before Jeremiah and Lehi. His writings are extensive.
He lived in Jerusalem, was well educated, married and had at least two sons, Maher-shalal-hash-baz and Shear-jashub and possibly one daughter. He served as the Lord’s prophet for about 50 years
before suffering a martyr’s death.
Isaiah
grew up during the reign of two ambitious Israelite kings. In Israel, King
Jeroboam II expanded his country’s borders and influence to their greatest
extent since the days of Solomon two hundred years earlier. In the southern
kingdom of Judah, King Uzziah served as the most powerful king in more than a
century. Both kingdoms were immoral and prone to pagan worship. This wickedness
appears to have been more serious in the north. The traditional major powers,
Assyria in the north and Egypt in the south were both experiencing periods of
weak rulers.
As
Isaiah reached adulthood, the world scene began to change. One of Assyria’s
most powerful kings, Tiglathpileser III or Pul as he is called in the Bible
came to power in 745 BC. Jeroboam died and civil unrest in the Northern kingdom
followed. Uzziah became a leper in about 750 BC after trying to burn priestly
incense in the temple. He served as a co-regent with his son for the last ten
years of his life. The prophets Hosea and Amos were preaching at the time that
Isaiah would have married.
Ancient
Jewish tradition suggests that Isaiah was related to the royal families of
Judah, and the scriptures record that his ministry spanned reigns of five
Judean kings-Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. Tradition also says that
one of Isaiah’s daughters married King Hezekiah. According to Josephus, Isaiah
suffered a martyr’s death at the hands of the wicked King Manasseh, Hezekiah’s
son, who would have been Isaiah’s grandson. This martyrdom appears to have
occurred around 695-692 BC.
Isaiah’s
call to the ministry came in the year that King Uzziah died, about 740 BC. He
was the last major prophet to teach both kingdoms before they began to scatter
from the Holy Land.
His
warnings and prophecies cover almost 3000 years of Israelite history. They tell
of the 1st and 2nd coming of the Savior, the restoration
of the gospel, the gathering of Israel, the events before and some
characteristics of the Millennium. As Christ said about Isaiah, “Surely he
spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of
Israel” (3 Nephi 23:2).
Why?
1. PERSONAL ENDORSEMENT OF SAVIOR - 3 NEPHI 20:11; 23:1-3
2. Bruce R. McConkie said, It just may be that my salvation (and yours
also) does in fact depend upon our ability to understand the writings of Isaiah
as fully and truly as Nephi understood them.” (See 2 Nephi 25:5, & “10 Keys
to Understanding Isaiah”)
3. He spoke of the Savior - 1
Nephi 19:23, of the 425 verses of Is. in the Book of Mormon, 391 speak of
the attributes or mission of the Savior. Isaiah provided at least 61 names and
titles of the Father and of the Son in his writings, most of those referring to
some aspect of the mission of Christ. Those 61 titles are found 708 times in
the Book of Isaiah, making an average appearance of once every 1.9 verses.
4. Moroni (Mormon 8:23), Nephi (1 Nephi 15:20), and Jacob (2 Nephi
6:4,5) all said to. Joseph Smith has 35 quotations, paraphrases &
commentaries on Isaiah in TPJS.
5. He spoke of our day.
6. Christ chose the words of Isaiah to open our dispensation (compare
Is. 29:13 to JSH vs. 19) and to instruct the boy Joseph Smith (compare Is. 11
with JSH v. 40-Moroni).
7. Fulfill a prophecy - 2 Nephi 25:8
8. Other scriptures A) 32% of
Isaiah is quotes in the Book of Mormon. B) D&C has about 100 references. C)
Quoted at least 57 times in the New Testament. (Jesus, Paul, Peter & John)
BUT- NEPHI HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD IN 2 NEPHI 25:1-”Isaiah spake many
things which were hard for many of my people to understand”
"As an
undergraduate student at BYU I took a rigorous class called "Business
Writing". I was taught a formula for writing that is consistent with our
modern culture: 'say what you're going to say, say it, then say what you've
said. Be concise, use simple words rather than complex, multisyllabic phrases.
Be brief, clear, and direct. Deny the listener the right to
misunderstand.-Isaiah did not take that class. He was what Victor Ludlow called
a deliberately difficult prophet. Isaiah wrote with these directions, 'Conceal
what you're going to say. Never use the same noun twice when referring to a
person, group, or place. Speak of future events in past tense at times. In
fact, have no time frame-move in and out of past, present, and future without
telling the reader what you're doing. Use complex symbolism rather than simple
metaphors. Never let anyone know whether you're being literal or figurative.
Keep 'em guessing! (John Bytheway, Isaiah
for Airheads)
How?
1. HARD
WORK- Reveal and conceal- Matt. 13:11,13,15,16 & Is. 6:8-10 & Jacob
4:14
A. III Nephi 23:1 - DILIGENTLY
B.IS. 28: 9-10, 13 -
Line upon line
2.
SPIRIT OF PROPHECY- (2 NEPHI 25:4)- 1 time in the Bible (Rev. 19:10) 20 times
in the Book of Mormon. (2 Nephi 25:2-works of darkness; Alma 17:2-3; Jacob
4:14)
Joseph Smith once
said, “God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known
unto the Twelve, and even the least saint my know all things as fast as he is
able to bear them” (Teachings, p. 149).
Not only are we
entitled to the Spirit of Prophecy ourselves, we also have access to the
written words of prophets and others who have this spirit. (Ken Godfrey and
prayers & missionary calls)
3.
UNDERSTAND THE MANNER OF PROPHESYING AMONG THE JEWS (2 NEPHI 25:1)
A. LAW OF MOSES- One
of Isaiah’s main objectives was to bring people to a consciousness of the
covenants of the law. The law was designed to bring people to Christ. Isaiah
began his book with a quotation from the song of Moses (Is. 1:2; Dt. 32:1).
Isaiah was able to communicate very effectively with those who knew the law,
for he did not need to explain in detail what he meant be each word or phrase.
What are some phrases understandable only to active LDS?
B. POETIC LANGUAGE - The Old Testament is about 1/3
poetry. Beyond the “poetic books; Job, Psalms, Proverbs, it is especially
prominent in the prophetic books. Isaiah is about 90% poetry. They used poetry
because their works were transmitted orally and poetry made it easier to
memorize. They used memory devices or patterns. The most common pattern in
Hebrew poetry was Parallelism. It was not rediscovered until 1753. The
past 250 years have brought great strides in understanding Old Testament
parallelism. In parallelism, a thought, idea, grammar pattern, or key work of
the first line is repeated in the 2nd line. There are at least 7 different
types of parallelism in Isaiah. Three of them are Synonymous (Is.
1:3), Contrasting (Is. 1:19-20) and Chiasmus (introverted), where
the pattern of words or ideas is stated and then repeated, but in a reverse
order. (Isaiah 3)
C. DUALISM- 3 major
time periods 1. His 2. Savior’s 3. Ours
- Until Millennium Many of Isaiah’s chapters are
dualistic in the sense that the message fulfilled in Isaiah’s time is a type or
shadow of events to take place in the last days.
D. ESOTERIC WORDS -
(CONFIDENTIAL, OF LIMITED UNDERSTANDABILITY) - Latter-day Saints could write a
book about this one.
E. SYMBOLS - Symbols - 21 categories
identified by Victor Ludlow - Persons, Actions, Anatomy, Animals, Objects,
Colors, Numbers. We learn symbols from our youth. (Flag, Sacrament, Baptism, 1
Nephi 8, Revelation, Isaiah, Temple)
F. MECHANICS AND
METHODS - "The Jewish approach to scripture is entirely analytical. the
Jews even analyze each letter of a word and the significance of that letter
within the word. (Every letter of the Hebrew alphabet, for example, possesses a
numerical value. thus, the word "serpent" [nahas] equates numerically
with the word "messiah", the word "serpent" being a symbol
for "messiah."
4. FAMILIAR WITH THE GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY & LIFESTYLE OF ISAIAH'S LAND-
A. In many cases
where geographical figures are used, their meaning is dualistic, referring to
the actual place as well as to the concept they typified.
Babylon,
Egypt, Assyria, Sodom, Gomorra=Wickedness
Canaanites,
Philistines, Amorites= Idolatrous Practice Of Israelites
Idumea World (See D&C 1:36)
Lebanon Pride
Bashan
“
Ephraim Whole Northern
Kingdom
Samaria “
B. See Is. 10:24-32
C. See Is. 28:23-29 for farming
analogy.
D. History of Israel - 1. Abraham 2.
Joseph in Egypt 3. Exodus 4. Giving of Law 5. Conquest of Canaan 6. Judges 7.
United Kingdom 8. Division 9. Apostasy 10. Israel's future scattering and
gathering.
E. HISTORICAL SETTING OF ISAIAH'S TIME-
(See page 171 0TSM) 5.Understand the Plan of Salvation and of God's dealings with His earthly
children. Isaiah is not a definitive book outlining God's plan. It is written
to people who already know. If you don't believe in or understand our
pre-earthly existence, you won't get Isaiah 14. God is consistent from one era
of people to another. If it happened to the ancient Israelites or to the
Babylonians the same type of blessing or punishment will be in store for us in
the latter days if we follow a similar course.
The same saving truths will be taught
to mankind until the end of the world. God does not change, and neither do His
commandments, laws, covenants, and ordinances that are given for the salvation
of mankind. D&C 130:20-21
6. STUDY ALL THE
SCRIPTURES Most quoted of all Old
Testament Prophets
A. Most quoted in Dead Sea Scrolls
B. JESUS, PAUL, PETER AND JOHN IN N.T.
- QUOTED AT LEAST 57 TIMES (LUKE 4:16-21; JOHN 1:23; ACTS
8:26-35; 1 COR. 2:9; 1 COR. 15:54-56)
C. BOOK OF MORMON-QUOTED 414 OF THE
1,292 VERSES OF ISAIAH (32%) PARAPHRASED AT LEAST ANOTHER 34 VERSES (3%) = 35%
I
NEPHI 20 & 21 (48-49) II NEPHI 7,8,12-24 (50,51,2-14) MOSIAH 14 (53) III
Nephi 22 (54)
D. D&C - ABOUT 100 REFERENCES TO
IS.
D&C 113- KEY TO IS. 11 & 52. D&C 101:32-31 - KEY TO IS. 65:17-25.
Millennium
D&C 133 - IS. 35, 51, 63 AND 64 -
10th Article of Faith-Gathering
E. WHEN MORONI APPEARED TO JOSEPH, HE
QUOTED IS. 11 AND SAID THAT IT WAS ABOUT TO BE FULFILLED. (JSH 1:40)
F. 32 Hymns
7. FOOTNOTES, CHAPTER HEADINGS, BIBLE DICTIONARY, MAPS, GAZETTEER, ETC.
8. Wait
and see- 2 Nephi 25:7
Biblical
Hebrew
1. Hebrew is
a Semitic language
2. It reads
from right to left
3. Semitic
words are built upon a root of 3 syllables. אדם -To be red or ruddy- Additional words may be
constructed by adding prefixes, suffixes or infixes. Adamah means earth. אָדָם
means man.
4. Semitic languages contained no punctuation or
capitalization. Whereas written English may indicate the end of a thought by a
period, written Hebrew indicates the beginning of a thought by the use of
phrases such as "and it came to pass", Now therefore" and
"but behold". (Martin p. 5-6)
