To understand the content of the Isaiah materials in Nephi's books, the best way to start is to ask why the materials were included at all. You would think Nephi had better things to do than undertake the laborious effort of engraving these already existing materials onto metal plates if what he intended was the same thing Isaiah intended by them. Why do it unless there was a secondary intention as well?
In this book we proceed from the premise Nephi was giving us his (Nephi's) own meaning, and using Isaiah's words to do so. This way of reading the material is supported by what Nephi writes elsewhere, and it also allows us to gain understanding from the text we might otherwise miss. For this work, Isaiah's original meaning will not be relevant. We will try to find only Nephi's.
Before Nephi quotes from any of the Isaiah materials, he records a vision of the whole unfolding history of the world, from his day to the end of time. This vision is written beginning in Chapter 11 of First Nephi, and continues through Chapter 14. That revelation influences him throughout the remainder of his life. Decades later, he wrote, "Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard." (2 Nephi 4: 16.) Visions as dramatic as those Nephi experienced do not leave the mind, but thereafter assume a standard by which life gets lived and events get weighed. He was able to interpret events in history, and see how we fit into context as well, through pondering these visions. Much of his record is an attempt to share warnings, lessons and truths to help those living in our time.
The vision Nephi receives of the earth's history has everything to do with Nephi's subsequent decision to add Isaiah materials to his books. We need to look at Nephi's earlier visions to put his later writing into proper context.
As Nephi recorded his vision of history, there came a point at which he was commanded to stop recording what he saw. Instead, he was instructed the record for these censored events was to be written by others assigned the task. Nephi writes:
"And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb [John the Revelator] shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see. But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them. 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: 24-26.)
Nephi sees many things, but cannot record them. Interestingly, while this other apostle of the Lamb will write an account, there are others who have also seen and written about them, too. "Also others who have been," Nephi writes, "they have [also] written [of] them." Therefore, a written account of these events is not just something that will happen in Nephi's future. There were "others" who had similar visions who "have written them" as well! This is great news for Nephi. Now he has another witness echoing his message and a resource to bear vindicating testimony despite the prohibition on his writing an original account himself. He can look in his brass plates and find the words from those "others" and use them.
You might ask yourself whether if you, in similar circumstances, had an opportunity to bear testimony of the things you saw without breaking the command not to write them, would you do so? If, for example, you saw another prophet had used words which conveyed the same meaning as the vision you had received, would you use the other prophet's words to convey your testimony? If you could adopt poetry from Isaiah to testify to your own vision of these truths, would you then use Isaiah's words to describe your own meaning? This is what Nephi has doNephi Accordingly, when we read the materials from Isaiah, we need to apply Nephi's (not Isaiah's) meaning to the words used.
How often have you quoted Shakespeare, or heard someone else do so, to communicate the speaker's own thought? To use simple examples, Lady Macbeth's injunction to the blood on her hands: "out, out, damned spot!" is used for any annoyance. Using it to tell someone to leave you alone alters Lady Macbeth's words from remorse and regret over a killing to something altogether different. Hamlet's query "to be or not to be" can be used as a reflection on any decision to be made. When so used it has nothing to do with Hamlet's internal struggle over his own life and death, or his despair over his mother's marriage to his father's murderer. And Hamlet's companion, Marcellus' remark: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" has been applied to everything from academia to politics and sports. Words of others can acquire any speaker's meaning when used for that purpose.
So it is with Nephi's Isaiah. Nephi uses Isaiah's words as his. He tells us that is what he is doing. Nephi writes: "but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." (1 Nephi 19: 23, emphasis added.)
Nephi's visions showed him the future. It showed him not only his future, but his descendants' and his brothers' descendants' futures as well. And not only for their posterity, but also the unfolding history of the earth, Israel, the coming of Christ in His mortal ministry, His crucifixion, His visit to the Nephites after His resurrection, the establishment of His Church, the apostasy, the discovery of the same promised land which Lehi brought his family to inherit by the Gentile nations, the destruction of his brother's descendants by the coming Gentile nations, the restoration of the Gospel, and, most significantly, our times and the Second Coming of Christ. Nephi witnessed it all. But as he attempted to bear testimony of these things to his brothers, they were skeptical. They had always been resentful of Nephi's position as a teacher. Nephi, the younger brother, was not distinguished by rank or position, and therefore his role as teacher was suspect in the older brothers' minds. They resented him. And they did not want to accept any message originating from him. They barely tolerated their father. But their cultural upbringing required they respect their father. That same cultural imprint made the younger brother anything but an authority over them. So when Nephi attempted to teach, he needed to appeal to other reputable authorities to support his doctrines.
When Nephi was first given prophetic foreknowledge of his role, he was told by the Lord he would be a "ruler and a teacher over thy brethren" (1 Nephi 2: 22). Later, during a rebellion in the trans-Arabian Peninsula, Nephi's brothers use almost the identical words to justify killing him: "And Laman said unto Lemuel and also unto the sons of Ishmael: Behold, let us slay our father, and also our brother Nephi, who has taken it upon him to be our ruler and our teacher, who are his elder brethren." (1 Nephi 16: 37.) Nephi was attempting to teach his brothers, who doubted his words as well as his authority to teach them. He was not a bona fide source of truth because he held no office, position or rank. He was, in fact, an inferior. Just like the Savior, as it was written: "he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isa. 53: 2-2.) That is, Christ was not a presiding High Priest in the society in which He was ministering, and therefore those who looked for such things found Him undesirable, unpersuasive and uncomely. He was despised and rejected by these people. In this, Nephi fits the same pattern. He was not an older brother, respected elder, holder of patriarchal office or of any other position to independently command respect. All he had were his words. For those insensitive to the Spirit, this is never enough.
In this circumstance, Nephi appealed to other prophets to support his teachings. He relied upon Zenock, Neum, Zenos and Isaiah to support the validity of the things he was teaching. Nephi assures his brothers his teachings are justified by the testimonies of all the prior prophets, and are not original with him. "And he surely did show unto the prophets of old all things concerning them; and also he did show unto many concerning us; wherefore, it must needs be that we know concerning them for they are written upon the plates of brass." (1 Nephi 19: 21.)
More importantly for us, however, is Nephi's intention to use these words to testify to us. He also had us in mind as an audience for his testimony, as he explains, "And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer. Wherefore, I speak unto all the house of Israel, if it so be that they should obtain these things." (1 Nephi 19: 18-19, emphasis added.) So, Nephi wants us to have his testimony. He wants to tell us of the great truths shown to him in vision. He will use Isaiah's words to communicate his testimony to us. But Nephi intends for his own testimony of the truth to come to us, though it comes in words borrowed from another prophet-writer.
To understand Nephi's testimony, we need to search Nephi's words and lessons to put a Nephite context to the words of Isaiah. It is putting things backward to start with Isaiah and try to put meaning into Nephi. This book changes the context back to Nephi.
Nephi writes: "that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning. Wherefore I spake unto them, saying: Hear ye the words of the prophet, ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel, a branch who have been broken off; hear ye the words of the prophet, which were written unto all the house of Israel, and liken them unto yourselves, that ye may have hope as well as your brethren from whom ye have been broken off; for after this manner has the prophet written." (1 Nephi 19: 23-24, emphasis added.) In this book we will accept Nephi's invitation and liken these quoted Isaiah passages to his setting, but mostly to ours. We will abandon any attempt to put them into an ancient Israelite setting for Isaiah's day. Nephi is telling us not to do that.
Nephi's meaning becomes clear, given two landmarks he provides for our use. The first are the things he wrote in his visions in First Nephi, Chapters 11 to 15. The second are his last words of warning in the closing chapters of 2 Nephi. There he provides his valedictory address in warnings directed to the latter-day readers of his record. We will measure the Isaiah materials against Nephi's visions and warnings, and find their meaning through them. We will also use Nephi's limited explanations of the quoted texts to aid in understanding his meaning. From these combined methods, we will interpret the Nephite meaning of Isaiah.
Since Nephi has liberated us by telling us it is fair to use the words and "liken" them unto ourselves, we are also free to use the Isaiah texts as metaphors and analogies for our own time and setting and the unfolding events of God's covenants among us. In that respect, Nephi has given us a license to put modern meanings in ancient words. Indeed, he has told us we should do that. And so we shall.
The meaning we give here is not and cannot be exhaustive. It is suggestive of some meanings, and intended to inspire thought and reflection on these scriptures, not to impose a single meaning. To attempt to exhaust all applications would not even be possible, and if attempted would make this work unwieldy. More importantly, as future events unfold, and the covenant promises are fulfilled in this Dispensation's yet-to-be-written history, new meanings will become apparent over time. Any current attempt at covering all meanings would be foolhardy. Nephi anticipated this as well. Remember his earlier quote about the Isaiah materials: "Wherefore, they are of worth unto the children of men, and he that supposeth that they are not, unto them will I speak particularly, and confine the words unto mine own people; for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days; for in that day shall they understand them; wherefore, for their good have I written them." (2 Nephi 25:8.) As we live them, we will understand them. Until they are actually experienced, they will be only understood in part. In the end, this is intended to provoke thought and reflection as you read the words of Nephi, borrowed from Isaiah. Hopefully, these words will acquire a new life as you do so; or a life which will speak to you.
To make this subject clearer, first we discuss the landmarks which define meanings before addressing the actual Isaiah texts. Then the First Nephi Isaiah texts will be dealt with on a verse-by-verse basis. Doing so will provide a pattern-recognition discussion to help build an understanding of Nephi's Isaiah. That understanding will equip you to make your own exploration of the Second Nephi texts. We will not repeat the verse-by-verse approach into the Second Nephi materials, but will address them as subjects and without a verse-by-verse treatment. Selected verses will be reviewed with Nephi's commentary and vision in mind, to define Nephi's meaning. This method will also reduce the length of this book significantly and by using a variety of approaches, should also make it more interesting to read.
These materials should challenge you, and make you uncomfortable with your own conduct and life. A serious responsibility is placed upon all true prophets like Nephi to teach correct principles to their audience so they can live their lives in harmony with the truth. When prophets fail to teach adequately, sins of their generation can be answered upon the head of the prophets. This principle is set out by Jacob. He and his brother had been ordained by Nephi to teach. Jacob said concerning himself and Joseph: "And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility,answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day." (Jacob 1: 19, emphasis added.) This principle is what provokes Nephi (and other prophets) to speak challenging and uncomfortable messages to us. True prophets are not sent to flatter or give good news to us. They are sent to bring about our repentance. Nephi, true to this pattern, does not flatter us or address our modern social concerns for self-esteem or a good self-image. Rather, as someone concerned for our souls, Nephi is interested in warning us away from error and telling us clearly what we need to do to repent and forsake the world. In that sense, Nephi does not attempt to make us comfortable. He wants to make us intelligent (in the sense of having light and truth). He would like us all to be exalted, and offers words with that end in mind.
Since every generation requires repentance from the particular sins of their day, the true prophets are always in conflict with the prevailing culture of their times. Their messages challenge, confront and call to repentance and never reassure and console us in our sins. Nephi's vision of our day leads him to write words which confront our sins and condemn them. To get the greatest benefit from his meaning, we need to construe his message in its most confrontational terms. We need to take warning from him. To construe the message in flattering terms is to miss his meaning. More importantly, you get nothing of value from it if it does not challenge any of your life's errors.
A sharp line needs to be drawn between truth and error, so the path back to God can be clearly highlighted for "His sheep." Without a sharp line, the "sheep" are less likely to be able to hear their Master's voice in the prophet's words. Therefore, conflicts and challenges always accompany the messages of the Lord's true prophets. Nephi's message is no exception to this. He does not flatter us. He reproves and rebukes us. Because he loves us and wants to see us return spotless to God, Nephi cannot reassure us in our sins. Therefore, be prepared to be rebuked as you consider his inspired and timely message. We will make no effort to smooth over his candor and make it less stark. That would be a great disservice. Nephi didn't wear a velvet glove and neither shall this work.
There is a human tendency with all scripture, and with Nephi's materials in particular, to read them as applicable to some "other" rather than to the reader. Nephi's work is particularly vulnerable to this because he writes vividly and clearly about issues involving the restoration of the Gospel. It is easy, therefore, to infer he is speaking to the "unconverted" and warning the "non-Saint" about errors. Interpreting him in this way leads to pride and self-deception. We fail to realize the significant insights Nephi offers to Latter-day Saints in repenting from our sins, improving our standing before God, and forsaking the world. Rather than apply Nephi's counsel outwardly as applicable to "others," in this work we will apply it inwardly as applicable to ourselves. After all, Nephi did not write for his non-readers. He wrote for his readers, who are almost exclusively Latter-day Saints.
The explanation in this book attempts to follow Nephi's meaning without any effort to make it less direct or confrontational. If Nephi is to succeed in alerting us, we need to preserve his directness as we examine his writings. But fairness requires these things to be balanced by a comment here. Nephi would like us to become something much greater than mediocre. He seeks our exaltation. Therefore he is writing with that end in mind. He does not waste time praising us because that would not improve us. A good coach does not merely praise your performance; rather he instructs and advises what needs improving. If all you got from a coach was praise, you would never improve. So too, Nephi writes to coach us through the perils of the latter-days.
We begin with the original visions which form the basis for the Isaiah materials becoming part of Nephi's record. Then, we turn to Nephi's warning summaries at the end of his record. These form the two landmarks which allow us to see Nephi's context for Isaiah. Next we will look at the First Nephi materials on a verse-by-verse basis. There are only two chapters of Isaiah materials in First Nephi. We will limit the verse-by-verse to these two Chapters of Nephi. Finally, we address the Second Nephi Isaiah texts in a narrative discussion by subject matter.
Nephi was more a prophet for our day than he was for his. His skillful use of the Isaiah materials, combined with his commentaries to help us understand what he was teaching, is as timely as today's headlines. He saw us, saw our failings, and wants us to understand how to correct them. His intentions are benevolent, so we ought not to take offense at his candor.