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Isaiah

How Might We Interpret the Dense Temple-Related Symbolism of the Prophet’s Heavenly Vision in Isaiah 6? (Gospel Doctrine Lesson 36A)

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Benjamin West: Isaiah’s lips purified

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 36: “The Glory of Zion Will Be a Defense” (Isaiah 1-6) (JBOTL36A)

Question: The short heavenly vision of Isaiah 6 is almost as difficult to understand as the entire book of Revelation. How might we interpret its symbolism?

Summary:Isaiah 6 is important for two reasons: 1. Historically, it gives us insight into the prophet’s divine commission, received near the beginning of his ministry; 2. Doctrinally, it provides valuable insights into the commissioning of other prophets and individuals who received similar visions. Much of what makes Isaiah’s vision — as well as his prophecies — difficult to understand is his rich poetic imagery, which is often grounded in temple symbolism. This article provides a detailed commentary on Isaiah 6, focused largely on these temple themes. Though none of the temple-related insights are exclusive to Latter-day Saints, their general familiarity with temple doctrines and practices make this chapter more accessible to them than to many other Christians.

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: ypKnoWhy OTL36A — How Might We Interpret the Dense Temple-Related Symbolism of the Prophet’s Heavenly Vision in Isaiah 6?

What New Archaeological Discoveries in Jerusalem Relate to Hezekiah? (Gospel Doctrine Lesson 30A)

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Shukron in room with markings

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 30: “Come to the House of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 29-30; 32; 34) (JBOTL30A)

Question: Hezekiah is known as being, after David, the greatest king in Israelite times. Are there any archaeological remains of his reign in Jerusalem?

Summary:Recent discoveries at the Ophel and Gihon Spring sites relating to Hezekiah are providing new insights into the history of ancient Jerusalem and its temple.

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: KnoWhy OTL30A — What New Archaeological Discoveries in Jerusalem Relate to Hezekiah?

Witness the Condescension of the Son of Man

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by Gregorio Billikopf

In the pseudepigraphical book, The Ascension of Isaiah, we come to understand what is meant by both he hath no form nor comeliness as well as no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2). In the Ascension of Isaiah, the Prophet is guided by an angel successively up to the seventh heaven, with each of the higher heavens being more glorious and full of light than the former one. The majesty, light, and glory of one of the personages Isaiah meets in one of the lower heavens is so overwhelming that Isaiah begins to prostrate himself. His angelic guide, however, restrains the Prophet from making the mistake of adoring a fellow-servant. Isaiah’s own countenance is changed in ever increasing glory as he ascends the heavens one by one. In the process of time, the Prophet arrives in the seventh heaven where he beholds the glory surrounding the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and Isaiah is able to worship God.

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The main purpose of the trip embarked upon by the Prophet is to witness the condescension of the Son of Man. Isaiah arrives as the Messiah is making final preparations to depart from the presence of the Father, leaving behind “the glory which [He] had with [the Father] before the world was” (John 17:5b). So it is that Isaiah is able to behold the Savior as He leaves the seventh heaven and descends one heaven at a time. An exquisitely painful and humbling panorama is placed before us. As Christ descends further, beginning with the fifth heaven He is not recognized by the people as the Son of Man, for He transforms Himself to match the glory of lowest of those who are present. There is nothing external in Him that sets Him apart. The Savior of mankind is ignored completely and expected to give the required passwords[1] “before the angels who stand as sentinels” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:31) before entering each of the heavens.

His beauty and glory are not perceived. “And the angel who conducted me said unto me: ‘Understand, Isaiah, and see how the transformation and descent of the Lord will appear [or, ‘in order that thou mayest see the transformation of the Lord’] . . . And I saw when He descended into the fifth heaven He made Himself like unto the form of the angels there, and they did not praise Him (nor worship Him); for His form was like unto theirs.”[2]

The Holy One of Israel continues this process of transformation until Isaiah is permitted to see “a woman of the family of David the prophet, named Mary, a Virgin, and she was espoused to a man named Joseph, a carpenter . . .” (Ascension of Isaiah, 11:2b). There were many things that Isaiah saw in this vision, but none more important than the condescension of Christ.

Note how Nephi was likewise privileged to watch the condescension of the Son of Man. The young Book of Mormon prophet was explicitly told that he was there to be a witness of Christ: “and him shall ye witness; and after ye have witnessed him ye shall bear record that it is the Son of God” (1 Nephi 11:7, also see 1 Nephi 11:8 ff.). In Isaiah 53:2, Isaiah is making it clear that the Son of Man did not come in His glory and that He could only be seen with the discernment of the Spirit. The purpose of Nephi’s vision, then, was not only to understand the individual elements of his father’s vision, but to be present—again, at the exact moment—when the Son of Man left behind His glory by the side of the Father to come down to earth to die for us that we might turn to Christ and live. John the Baptist bears witness of Him when he says: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b). The Baptist is telling us to open our eyes, to behold, to look upon the Holy One of Israel with the witness of the Holy Spirit and know that He is the Son of God.

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Recall that after the resurrection the Savior appeared to His disciples on the road to Emmaus: “But their eyes were holden that they should not know him” (Luke 24:16). Although they could not recognize Him with their eyes, there was something that witnessed peace to them: “And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:30-32). We can likewise have our eyes opened by hearing the word at General Conference and other Church meetings, and by immersing ourselves in Holy Scripture, especially the Book of Mormon—and hearkening to the Spirit. Can we also be witnesses and behold His condescension before the children of men?

[1] “Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell” (Journal of Discourses, 2:31).

[2] Charles, R.H. (Editor). Ascension of Isaiah, 10:18, 20. Translated from the Ethiopic Version, which, together with the new Greek fragment, the Latin versions and the Latin translation of the Slavonic, is here published in full. London: Adam and Black, 1900, 72. While we do not consider the Ascension of Isaiah Scripture, Latter-day Saints have multiple reasons to be interested in this manuscript. There are important similarities to the Vision of Joseph F. Smith (see D&C 138), where the great disciples of Christ of ancient days were present, such as Adam and Enoch in the spirit world; as well as to things we learn in sacred places. The Ascension of Isaiah, shows that at least some early Christians believed that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost were three distinct beings, but one in purpose. It is not known if this book was written by Isaiah, or at a later date. It is suggested that the original book may well have existed before the time of Christ but may have been amended by early Christians. At any rate, what we have has not been preserved in its purity.

GregGregorio Billikopf was born in Chile in 1954. After reading the Book of Mormon over a four-day period, he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1974. His parental grandfather was a Lithuanian Jew and grandmother a German Jew. His mother’s side of the family is Chilean. Billikopf felt stirred to study Isaiah after reading the words of the Savior in 3 Nephi 23:1. Gregorio is the author of Isaiah Testifies of Christ. He worked for the University of California for 34 years and published books on labor productivity and on mediation and conflict management. Gregorio and his wife Linda live in Chile.

 

Nephi and Isaiah: Some Suggestions for Study

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Isaiah

We have all experienced it. Newly committed to the read through the Book of Mormon, we eagerly start with the familiar words, “I, Nephi, having been born …,” and the reading seems to be going well. And then they come. The dreaded “Isaiah chapters.” These chapters are dense, difficult, and demanding.

You are tempted to just skip over them, but they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t important, right? Nephi “delights” in Isaiah’s words (2 Nephi 11:2), and the Savior himself declares them “great” (3 Nephi 23:1), but for you they are more like “great and dreadful.” How can you get more out of the Isaiah chapters?

Book of Mormon Central has been churning out KnoWhys—short insights into some detail in the Book of Mormon—at an astonishingly rapid rate, and the for the last few weeks they have zeroed in on the Isaiah chapters. With more than a dozen KnoWhys on Nephi and Isaiah, these provide a diverse set of tools to aid in your personal study. The Isaiah KnoWhys from Book of Mormon Central generally take four different approaches to the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi, each of which can provide a framework for further individual study of Isaiah.

Likening Isaiah

One approach Nephi uses is likening. Book of Mormon Central offers several insights into what Nephi might have meant by this. For example, when Nephi first quotes from Isaiah in 1 Nephi 20–21, he says that he “did liken all scriptures unto” his family (1 Nephi 19:23). But have you ever thought about how he likened them? What connections did he see between Isaiah 48–49 and his family’s experience? Book of Mormon Central suggests several possibilities, but they are far from exhaustive. Perhaps the next time you study these chapters you could ponder how Nephi saw his own experiences within those chapters.

Nephi also promised to “liken” Isaiah 2–14 Isaiah to his people (2 Nephi 11:2). So how did Nephi apply these parts of Isaiah to his followers and their situation? Book of Mormon Central offers a couple of examples. Perhaps he understood the temple they had just built to be “the house of the Lord,” prophesied of in Isaiah 2, just as modern prophets apply it to the Salt Lake temple today. Likewise, Nephi could have easily seen native peoples that the Lehites had interacted with as fulfilling several of the Gentiles’ roles in Isaiah’s writings. What are some other ways these chapters in Isaiah could be applied to Nephi’s people in the New World?

The Nephite Prophetic View

To get ready for studying Isaiah 2–14 in 2 Nephi 12–24, Book of Mormon Central introduced a 4-stage framework based on Nephi’s vision in 1 Nephi 11–14:

  • Stage 1: Christ’s coming (1 Nephi 11);

  • Stage 2: his rejection and the scattering of the Jews (1 Nephi 12);

  • Stage 3: the day of the Gentiles (1 Nephi 13); and

  • Stage 4: the restoration of Israel and the ultimate victory of good over evil (1 Nephi 14).

This same framework can be applied to other places where Nephi uses Isaiah, like 1 Nephi 19–22, 2 Nephi 6–10, and Nephi’s interpretations in 2 Nephi 25–30. This can prove a useful lens through which to read these Isaiah chapters, looking for each of these stages in Isaiah 2–14.

To make it more interesting, though, you can not only look for these themes, but also compare Isaiah’s words with Nephi’s in 1 Nephi 11–14. Book of Mormon Central, for example, compares Nephi’s vision in 1 Nephi 11 with Isaiah’s prophecies quoted in 2 Nephi 12–24, and get illuminating results. They also explored ways each of the other three stages are manifest in Isaiah’s writings and how they compare with Nephi’s own prophetic visions.

In each instance, Book of Mormon Central is only just scratching the surface. There is a lot more to explore for each of these stages. The “Nephite Prophetic View” can thus be employed productively by anybody seeking to get more out of these Isaiah chapters. And with each one, it starts to become clear that Nephi deeply identified with Isaiah. No wonder Nephi went to pains to include Isaiah as one of his three witnesses of the Messiah. In marvelous poetic fashion, Isaiah described many of the same things Nephi had witnessed in vision. How could Isaiah not resonate with Nephi?

Nephi’s Keys

Another approach to these chapters is to consider the “keys” Nephi offers in 2 Nephi 25. Once again, Book of Mormon Central helpfully outlines this lens of study:

  1. Understand the “manner of prophesying among the Jews” (v. 1)

  2. Do not do “works of darkness” or “doings of abominations” (v. 2)

  3. Be filled with the spirit of prophecy (v. 4)

  4. Be familiar with the regions around Jerusalem (v. 6)

  5. Live during the days that the prophecies of Isaiah are fulfilled (v. 7)

As an example of how this can enhance our study of Isaiah, Book of Mormon Central applies key 1 to a phrase found through Isaiah 2–14—“for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still”—to show how understanding ancient Israelite thought changes how we read this passage. What other insights await us if apply Nephi’s keys while reading Isaiah?

Latter-day Application

Finally, Nephi invites his latter-day readers to “liken” the scriptures themselves as well (2 Nephi 11:8). Nephi himself provides some Latter-day applications. He likens Isaiah 49 to the latter-day (1 Nephi 22:6–14), for instance, and Book of Mormon Central argues that given such an application, Joseph Smith could be understood as the “servant” in Isaiah 49:1–6. How can the rest of the chapter be applied to the latter-day Restoration?

Isaiah 11 also seems to be applied to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, if not by Nephi, at least by Moroni. Nephi’s most extensive application to the Latter-days, however, is his appropriation of Isaiah 29. Book of Mormon Central proposes that 2 Nephi 27 should not be read as Nephi quoting Isaiah 29, something Nephi never claims to be doing throughout 2 Nephi 25–30. Instead, he is applying and adapting the Isaiah’s words to his own vision of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

Nephi had seen the Restoration and coming forth the Book of Mormon in vision (1 Nephi 13:32–42). When Nephi read about “a book that is sealed,” taken by men to “one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee,” and then subsequently taken to “him that is not learned” (Isaiah 29:11–12), he found apt words to adopt in describing certain events which would unfold in the life of Joseph Smith (2 Nephi 27:15–19).

While this is not only one way to approach the relationship between Isaiah 29 and 2 Nephi 26–27, it opens up interesting ways to study how Nephi is personally interacting with Isaiah. Have you tried reading the two prophecies side by side to see what Nephi is doing?

Conclusion: Delighting in the Great Words of Isaiah

Today there is a rich array of tools for Latter-day Saints to use in better understanding Isaiah, and what his writings are doing in the Book of Mormon. The recent slew of KnoWhys from Book of Mormon Central provides us with a number of different paths to follow for enriching study of Isaiah’s “great” words (3 Nephi 23:1). The application of several approaches to Isaiah derived from Nephi’s own words illuminates Isaiah’s writings in wonderful ways and begins to shed light on why Nephi “delighted” (2 Nephi 11:2) in the words of this great Israelite poet and prophet.

Neal Rappleye is a Research Project Manager for Book of Mormon Central. He blogs on Latter-day Saint topics at http://www.studioetquoquefide.com/