[The writings of Isaiah] loom as a barrier, like a roadblock or a checkpoint beyond which the casual reader, one with idle curiosity, generally will not go. You, too, may be tempted to stop there, but do not do it! Do not stop reading! Move forward through those difficult-to-understand chapters of Old Testament prophecy, even if you understand very little of it. Move on, if all you do is skim and merely glean an impression here and there. Move on, if all you do is look at the words.
“So if you start the Book of Mormon, you young people…and if the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah seem difficult to you, look at the words and turn the pages. If you think you’re not getting very much, maybe you’re not. But, in due time, you’ll move right on through and you’ll close the book and you have read the Book of Mormon.'” (Church News, week ending March 22, 2008.)We're actually taught and encouraged to just turn pages and get through it. The accomplishment of finishing reading the book is where the LDS church for the most part leaves off on this topic. As long as you've turned the pages, you've met some unspoken standard.
The barrier to understanding Isaiah has been substantial enough that it's led to a Mormon myth that everyone has likely heard some version of. It's very funny. The myth goes something like this:
During the Vietnam War, a group of soldiers were ambushed. Fire was exchanged and during it all, a young LDS soldier was hit in the chest. The others had no choice but to retreat, leaving their friend's body in the tall grass.
Later that night, back at the camp, they saw a figure moving towards them. One of the soldiers yelled out, "Who goes there?" Out of the shadows stumbled the LDS soldier. The group stood in disbelief, wanting to know how he survived.
The LDS soldier reached into his jacket and pulled out a pocket version Book of Mormon with a bullet lodged in it. Holding it high in the air he exclaimed, "Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets through Second Nephi!"
Some sources who remember President Packers verbal address remember him saying to skip the Isaiah chapters and one reputable scholar noted that it appears those comments were edited out of the recording of the final published talk. In any event, the Church leaders haven't taught much from the Isaiah portions of the Book of Mormon. There's some pieced together quotes or keys that teachers have put together over the decades, but the leaders by and large don't touch it. Much less explain it so people can understand.
A quick aside with some fun facts:
The 21 chapters of Isaiah which are quoted (Chapters 2-14, 29, and 48-54) either partially or completely, represent about one-third of the book of Isaiah, but less than two and one-half percent of the total Book of Mormon. The phrase "it came to pass" is 3% of the text if you added them all up. Which means "it came to pass" is MORE prevalent in the BofM than Isaiah. But that's neither here nor there.
Some other interesting BofM facts: The word "yea" is used abundantly in the Book of Mormon, as you probably know. There are 1,254 of them. There are several categories that this word falls into depending on context. Some of which are not part of how English is spoken today. Many yea's are emphatic. The whole text is a very emphatic text. The sheer quantity of yea's is almost as if you had to answer a question of which single punctuation mark best represents the message of the book. And the book gives you the answer. It would be the exclamation point. The Book of Mormon of course doesn't have a lot of literal exclamation points but the content is full of emphasis. Kind of like the book is important.
Despite the difficulties with Isaiah, we do have this very encouraging but semi perplexing prophecy of Nephi: (2 Nephi 25 7-8)
Nephi's Isaiah
Prophetic Promises:
Despite the difficulties with Isaiah, we do have this very encouraging but semi perplexing prophecy of Nephi: (2 Nephi 25 7-8)
...Nevertheless, in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass. 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.
The good news is at some point, the prophecies of Isaiah will be fulfilled. And people will know for sure that they have been. Nephi tells us they are of great worth. But he says some people will think they are not worth much, only to be glossed over, pages turned, and essentially skipped. Nephi says that he speaks more particularly to those folks, as well as to Nephi's own people. It seems he knows the passages will trip people up.
Nephi speaks to his people, his descendants, and those who don't think Isaiah's passages are worth much and says in the last days they WILL understand them. For Nephi just getting it preserved for them involved etching into plates. He couldn't cut and paste from the brass plates. He had to put this content down in writing himself with his own hand, character by character. The amount of work that took was no doubt enormous.
Nephi speaks to his people, his descendants, and those who don't think Isaiah's passages are worth much and says in the last days they WILL understand them. For Nephi just getting it preserved for them involved etching into plates. He couldn't cut and paste from the brass plates. He had to put this content down in writing himself with his own hand, character by character. The amount of work that took was no doubt enormous.
So why repeat these Isaiah passages if it was already written elsewhere? And how can these "bullet stopping" passages get fulfilled and understood? Nephi says he writes for our good and yet they often do us no good because they are so poorly understood. So, do we all need to become Jewish scholars and go learn Hebrew to figure out what Nephi is saying to us?
Nephi's Isaiah
One important key to all this is that Nephi wasn't repeating Isaiah's message. Let that sink in.
Nephi was using Isaiah's words to communicate his own prophetic message. This is not a repeat of Isaiah, nor a repeat of Isaiah's message. This is Nephi being incredibly clever about revealing something he didn't have permission to reveal:
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 [Nephi's Isaiah] 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.
(//120–121)
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.
(//134)
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.(//137)
The Isaiah portions of the Book of Mormon therefore should carry Nephi's meaning and, in our day, should read differently than what we read in the bible. Nephi after all was using those words but putting his own spin on them. With a very particular America centric audience in mind.
The meaning of Nephi's Isaiah quotes has been locked for hundreds of years and are one of the portions of the Book of Mormon least understood. It was prophesied that the words would be understood at some point. Perhaps now is that time. Perhaps once the book is divorced from institutional control.
Wouldn't it be awesome if we could read the Book of Mormon's Isaiah passages in Modern English?
Continued in part 7!
Continued in part 7!
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