Christ and covenants - Part 2

I wrote a post with the same name a while back, not knowing there would be a part 2. But this theme keeps popping up. To recap: The purpose of the Book of Mormon is stated on the title page, and can be summed up in two words: Christ and covenants. For me, this is the core message of Isaiah too and the reason, I believe, he is quoted so much in the Book of Mormon. After I had these thoughts, I read a post on Reddit, analyzing 2 Nephi 11. This short chapter contains repetetive resumption (marked with yellow) and several "my soul delighteth in..." in between.

2 And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him.

3 And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words.

4 Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him.

5 And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.

6 And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish.

7 For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time.

8 And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men.

So basically, Nephi delighteth in Isaiah's words and the meesage they contain, which is all about Christ and covenants.

Lord Wilmore wrote a post yesterday about the meaning of the names of Isaiah's sons. Their names reflect the scattering and gathering of Israel, that is mentioned on the title page too and that I would sum up in this one word; covenants. Add to that, Isaiah's own name: It means "Jehovah saves" or "Jehovah is salvation". Although Isaiah doesn't use the name "Christ", which is only a Greek version of the Hebrew, "Messiah", the salvation that comes through Jehovah/The Holy one of Israel/The Lord of Hosts is a central theme in the Book of Isaiah.

Again, through the names of Isaiah and his sons we get the same theme: Christ and covenants.

After Nephi has made this introduction to Isaiah in 2 Nephi 11, he goes on to quote 13 chapters. When he is done, he comments on it in 2 Nephi 25:

my soul delighteth in the words of Isaiah (v.5)

And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state. Wherefore, he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men. (v.17)

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. (v.26)

To get a little personal: Last Sunday taking the sacrament, I reflected again on these two words and realized that they sum up the sacrament too. We remember Christ and renew our covenants with him. These two are inseparably connected and the whole basis of our salvation. I believe that covenants is the only way given to us that binds us to Christ in such a way that we can receive the full effects of the atonement.

Christ and covenants

I just understood better why Isaiah is quoted so much in the Book of Mormon. The title page explains the whole purpose of the Book of Mormon

Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations

Christ and covenants, that's what it's all about. But the more I read Isaiah, the more I realize that this quote from the title page summarizes his writings perfectly. This is the theme all throughout the Book of Isaiah. Sometimes it's buried in a lot of symbolism that might be interpreted on different levels, especially his message of Christ. But a good indicator of how to best summarize Isaiah's message is what Book of Mormon authors say when they comment after having quoted Isaiah. It is always about this theme, no exceptions.

1 Nephi 20-21: Nephi reads Isaiah 48-49 and comments in 1 Nephi 22. He explains how the Jews will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel and be scattered, how the Lord will do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, that they will be an instrument in gathering the House of Israel, and that the "Lord God will make bare his arm" in the latter days and bring about the covenants and his gospel to the House of Israel, who shall know that the Lord is their Savior.

2 Nephi 6: Jacob starts reading the end of Isaiah 49 and comments in the same chapter. What he says is very similar to what Nephi says in 1 Nephi 22. (Details here)

2 Nephi 7-8: Jacob quotes Isaiah 50-52:2. His speech continues into chapters 9-10. This is how he starts his comments

1 And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all the house of Israel—

2 That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise. (2 Nephi 9)

Then he goes on to talk about the Savior and the atonement before returning to the topic of covenants and the gathering of Israel in the latter part of 2 Nephi 10.

2 Nephi 12-24: Nephi quotes Isaiah 2-14. Then he spends the next 6 chapters talking about the atonement through Christ and the marvelous work and wonder in the latter-days (while quoting some more Isaiah in between).

Mosiah 14: Abinadi quotes Isaiah 53. Then he spends the next two chapters talking about the salvation through Christ.

3 Nephi 16, 20-22: The Savior himself quotes several parts of Isaiah, Isaiah 54 among them. His own comments in these chapters focus on God's covenants with his children and the gathering of Israel. Language like we find in 3 Nephi 21:4 is repeated a lot

that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel

I have previously tried to summarize these teachings here.

The Book of Mormon authors are true to its purpose, even when they don't quote Isaiah. But since Isaiah's prophecies are so very well aligned with the purpose of the Book of Mormon, he is used quite a lot as a "second witness" to what the Book of Mormon prophets are testifying of.

Nephi summarizes 12 chapters of Isaiah

2 Nephi 25 immediately follows 12 chapters of Isaiah, which were originally presented in the Book of Mormon as three chapters (they were later reformatted when the book was put into chapter and verse format). The original chapters grouped things as follows: Isaiah 2-5; Isaiah 6-12; Isaiah 13-14

Nephi includes very succinct summaries of each of these passages in verses 9 and 11:

Isaiah 2-5 (from verse 9): "And as one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities;"

Isaiah 6-12 (from verse 9): "...never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord.

Isaiah 13-14 (from verse 11): "And notwithstanding they have been carried away they shall return again, and possess the land of Jerusalem; wherefore, they shall be restored again to the land of their inheritance."

Iniquity leads to destruction. Prophets warn the people. A remnant shall return. 

If you had to summarize Isaiah 2-12 in 12 words, this is how I would do it. Perhaps Nephi loved Isaiah so much because his message was so similar to what Nephi was experiencing. He was called as a prophet as the Lord created a remnant out of his father's seed, but he saw in vision that his seed would ultimately ripen in iniquity and reject the warnings of the prophets, leading to their utter destruction. And yet, in the latter days, a remnant will return.

Internal Consistency regarding the Isaiah Chapters in 2 Nephi

The critical view of the Book of Mormon sometimes goes that Joseph Smith got to the end of his massively ambitious project and then decided to simply read from the KJV chapters of Isaiah to fill his desired word count, inadvertently exposing his entire work as a fraud by quoting Second Isaiah, which scholars have nearly unanimously concluded would not have been available to Nephi prior to the Babylonian conquest.

I admit the Isaiah chapters are hard to understand for a lot of reasons, including this reason, but there is clearly much more to the story than Joseph grabbing his Bible off the shelf at the end of his dictation process. Their purpose for being in Nephi's record speaks to major themes throughout the Book of Mormon--the remnant, the latter-day gathering and the establishment of Zion, etc.

Consider, for example, the fact that Jesus Christ references Isaiah in 3 Nephi 23:1, when he is visiting the Nephites:

1 And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.

By this point in the dictation, Joseph Smith has only quoted Isaiah in the words of Abinadi found in Mosiah 14 (115 chapters earlier).  The 1 Nephi and 2 Nephi Isaiah passages won't show up in the dictation for another 60-70 chapters).

What does this mean?  To me this is an indication that the presence of Isaiah's words among the Nephites must have been known to the author of the Book of Mormon from the outset and not something that was added during the process.