Lesson 36: The Glory of Zion Will Be a Defense

Isaiah 1-6
2 Nephi 11

Purpose: To encourage class members to avoid the evils of the world by standing in holy places and to help them draw strength from Isaiah’s willingness to serve.

1. Isaiah describes the condition of the world in the last days.
2. Isaiah counsels the faithful to stand in holy places.
3. Isaiah describes the gathering of Israel in the latter days.
4. Isaiah responded willingly to his call to be a prophet

Scripture Discussion and Application

We have now reached the part of the Old Testament that you have all been waiting for – we’ll be spending the next several weeks talking about Isaiah!

How many of you have read Isaiah all the way through? How many of you have understood Isaiah all the way through? I take it the rest of you are like me: you know Isaiah is good for you – like beets and brussels sprouts – but there are certainly other parts of scripture that you enjoy more?

Let’s consider that a moment. Why do we have this idea that Isaiah, of all the Old Testament prophets, is particularly good for us?

The Savior commanded the Nephites to search Isaiah’s writings:

3 Nephi 23:1

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.

Nephi valued him:

2 Nephi 11:2

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.

And Nephi certainly did delight in Isaiah, quoting his words for chapter after chapter. It’s only after Nephi quotes so much of Isaiah that he gives readers some clues on understanding Isaiah.

2 Nephi 25:1

1 Now I, Nephi, do speak somewhat concerning the words which I have written, which have been spoken by the mouth of Isaiah. For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews.

Some of the commentaries I have consulted this week devote a lot of attention to “the manner of prophesying among the Jews” – techniques which Isaiah fully utilized. Some of these points are not ones that you and I are going to master; others are points we can learn. For instance:

a. It is not always clear whether Isaiah is speaking of the past, the present, or the future, or all three simultaneously. This sometimes has to do with the nature of Hebrew verbs, and the confusion of translating them into English. I suspect that none of us in this room are going to study Hebrew to the level we would need to understand whether a statement applies to Isaiah’s past, present, or future, so we have to depend on other clues.

b. Isaiah is a poet, and his text is written as poetry. If we try to read his poetry in the same way we would read a narrative history, we will have difficult that can be solved if we read it as poetry. We have talked in the past about Hebrew poetry, and how – unlike English poetry, where sound is repeated to make lines rhyme – Hebrew poetry repeats ideas in different words, which can emphasize the ideas either through broadening the original idea, or contrasting something to it.

Let’s look at Isaiah 1:2-3 and see how Hebrew poetry works.

2 Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth:

for the Lord hath spoken,

I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master’s crib:

but Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider.

[Discuss these verses, having class members identify what lines repeat or contrast or expand the thoughts in other lines. Note that being able to read these lines as poetry lessens the confusion (what do oxen and asses have to do with Israel??) because we are willing to approach poetry differently than we do history.]

But acknowledging that something is poetic does not solve all our problems with Isaiah. Nephi gives us another clue to understanding Isaiah.

2 Nephi 25:4

… he words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.

Now how’s that for a challenge! Do you approach Isaiah with the spirit of prophecy? What is the spirit of prophecy?

Revelation 19:10

… I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Do you have a testimony of Jesus, that he is the Son of God and our Saviour? How could having that testimony be an assistance to understanding Isaiah, do you think?

Nephi gives us yet another clue to understanding Isaiah when he tells us that although he has not given his children the same education that he, Nephi, received in Jerusalem, that kind of education was necessary to fully understanding Isaiah.

2 Nephi 25:5-6

25 … I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets, and there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.

6 But behold, I, Nephi, have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews; but behold, I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore I know concerning the regions round about …

Isaiah speaks from within the culture of the Jews. He talks about kingdoms near Israel and expects his listeners to know whether they are current enemies. He speaks about temple sacrifices, and the furniture of the temple, and expects his listeners to understand those references. He speaks about seraphim with wings, and about cherubim, and expects his listeners to know the difference.

When we get lost in the words of Isaiah – and I suspect all of us do, more or less regularly, how can we find out enough about “the learning of the Jews” to be able to understand what Isaiah is talking about? [maps, Bible Dictionary and other references, other Bible translations, explications made by trusted scholars]

And finally, Nephi tells us that one help to understanding Isaiah is available to us, in this room

2 Nephi 25:8

8 … I know that they [the words of Isaiah] 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.

“In that day” – our day – “shall they understand them”! Why might we understand them, where past civilizations have not?

Okay, let’s turn the rest of our time this afternoon to reading and understanding some passages from Isaiah. Note, by the way, that the writings of Isaiah are a compilation of sermons or prophecies or speeches given at various times. They are not arranged in chronological order, and do not necessarily flow easily one to another. That makes it hard for us to read the book of Isaiah straight through, as if it were the story of Isaiah’s ministry – it is not. It works best if we lift out passages without necessarily trying to fit them into what comes before or after.

Let’s start with Isaiah 2.

Isaiah 2:1-5

1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

This is a familiar passage to us. First, let’s remember that Isaiah is poetry – poetry that doesn’t repeat sound, but repeats and amplifies thought. What are some of the lines in this passage that you can recognize as poetry, where one line echoes the previous line?

What about the timing? Is Isaiah speaking of his past, his present, or his future?

Isaiah lived 2500 years ago – something that was still in his future might be in our past. Is Isaiah talking about our past, our present, or our future?

How do Latter-day Saints understand this passage – what does it mean to us?

How does living in the last days help us to understand this passage?

Okay, now we more or less understand it … at least intellectually. Let’s consider whether we really, truly believe this to be a prophecy of our day:

Do prophecies like this automatically come true just because the Lord wills it? Or are there things we should be doing – if we truly believe this prophecy – to help it come to pass?

What can/should we be doing in relation to establishing “the mountain of the Lord’s house”?

Isaiah 1:11-15 speaks of sacrifices that were performed in the temple of Isaiah’s day. “To what purpose” are those sacrifices, the Lord asked. The people were simply going through the motions, he said. Mere ceremony had no purpose in God’s eyes – so bring them no more. Do away with solemn meetings – “it is iniquity.” With that in mind – is it enough merely to build temples? merely to go through the motions of attending the temple? How do we need to approach the “mountain of the Lord’s house” to keep that approach from being empty ceremony?

Back to Isaiah 2 – “all nations shall flow unto it.” How do we see that being fulfilled?

Is “the mountain of the Lord’s house” a single place? Recognizing that temples – wherever they might be built – are the “Lord’s house,” what is our obligation to “all nations” in seeing that all Saints can go to the temples?

Isaiah 2:3 speaks of the people who will turn to Zion to be taught in God’s ways. What is our role in teaching them? Is that instruction complete once someone has heard the missionary discussions? What resources do we have for continuing that instruction? Is that instruction limited to what we usually think of as religious education?

We love the image that is given in Isaiah 2:4 – “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Who wouldn’t want to live in a world like that, and leave that kind of world for children and grandchildren to grow up in?

But how is that going to come about? Do we expect the Lord to wave his hand and magically take war out of the hearts of people around the world?

World War I was the first war in this dispensation when there were large numbers of Latter-day Saints on opposite sides of a conflict. First it was Latter-day Saints in Great Britain on one side, with Latter-day Saints in Germany on the other. When the United States entered the war, hundreds more Latter-day Saints went to war. Most Church leaders were native-born Americans, or had become naturalized citizens, and it would have been the most natural thing in the world for those leaders to have taken the side of the U.S. in the war. And as citizens, they did. But as the prophet of the Lord, Joseph F. Smith reminded Latter-day Saints on all sides of the conflict that they were also children of God, and followers of the Prince of Peace.

“I want to say to the Latter-day Saints … when they go forth, they may go forth in the spirit of defending the liberties of mankind rather than for the purpose of destroying the enemy. … When they are called … do it with an eye single to the accomplishment of the good that is aimed to be accomplished, and not with the blood-thirsty desire to kill and to destroy.” (Joseph F. Smith, Conference Reports, April 1917, 2-12)

As Latter-day Saints, we are familiar with prophecies that war shall be poured out on all nations, and that the latter days will be a time of wars and rumors of wars. How can we live in such a time, and still become the kind of people who bring about the day when, as Isaiah said, “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”?

This passage of Isaiah ends with this invitation: “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Of all the principles that are counted as part of the Gospel, of all the blessings that are promised to those who walk in the light of the Lord, what would you most like to see come to pass?

Are there steps that we – you and I, in this room now – can take to bing that about, even in a small way?

We’ll turn now to another passage of Isaiah. Before we do, though, let’s review another point that we have talked about in the past, and that is the division of the scriptures into chapters and verses.

For many hundreds of years, a book of scripture, like Isaiah, was copied as one long passage. [draw long, unbroken line on board] For convenience, the long text was eventually divided into chapters, and verses [divide long line into segments, and divide one segment into shorter pieces, with short lines] This made it possible to refer to a passage by chapter and verse, so that anyone could know they were all referring to the same bit of scripture. But the scribes who divided the scripture into chapter and verse didn’t have the same ideas that we have today, that a chapter in a book should be one complete idea, and that the next idea should go in its own chapter. Sometimes there are awkward chapter breaks in scripture, where one thought straddles two chapters. Things that belong together as one thought in the mind don’t necessarily appear together on the page. [draw braces to show one pericope straddling a chapter break]

For example, parts of Isaiah 2-3 talk about the evils that will come to Israel in the last days when most of the people have turned their backs on the Lord. The Lord will become angry with Israel and send destruction among them. Chapter 4, which we’ll read in a moment, tells what the Lord will do to redeem the people who repent and turn back to following the Lord. But there is confusion in the way the ancient scribes divided chapters 3 and 4. Isaiah 4:1 belongs at the end of chapter 3, with the terrors and punishments that will come upon Israel – it doesn’t belong with the rest of chapter 4! (That is, this is not a verse that speaks of some supposed form of celestial marriage that comes as a blessing to Zion in chapter 4; it is the humiliating condition that comes to the women of Israel when so many of the men have been destroyed in battle.)

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s read Isaiah 4:2-6:

2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:

4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

The “escaped of Israel” – those who survive the war and sin – will be holy, Isaiah says. They will repent, and the Lord will forgive them – “wash away the[ir] filth.”

Isaiah becomes poetic again, in ways with which we are very familiar. The image of “washing away filth” as a synonym for forgiveness is of course very familiar to us – where do we see that symbol in the modern Church?

The image in verse 5 of a cloud of smoke by day and a shining pillar of fire by night should also be familiar to us from reading the Old Testament. What event is Isaiah referring to there?

So does that mean that Isaiah is only speaking of the past? Or can he also be speaking of the future? His future? Our future? Our present?

Note: We recall this image when we sing the hymn “Redeemer of Israel”:

Redeemer of Israel,
Our only delight,
On whom for a blessing we call,
Our shadow by day
And our pillar by night,
Our King, our Deliv’rer, our all!

These last verses – 5 and 6 – have other poetic images that are worth our attention. Isaiah says the Lord will place his “shadow by day and his pillar by night” on three places, places that will shelter us and provide refuge from all harm. What are those three places? [write on board]

every dwelling place of Mount Zion
her assemblies
a tabernacle

Let’s do as Nephi said he did, and apply Isaiah to our world by finding more familiar words to fit these three places. What are the three safe places that will shelter us, and where we will be led by the spirit of God?

home
church (or stake, ward, etc.)
temple

How can these places shelter us from storms, both physical and spiritual?

Again, do we expect these places to be automatically safe? What do we need to do to make them peaceful, sheltering places, or to find peace and shelter there?

Our next four Sunday lessons will focus on different themes found in Isaiah – we will spend more time with this book of scripture than any other part of the Old Testament this year. Next week’s lesson, for instance – Lesson 37 – will center on Isaiah’s awareness of the Messiah. May I suggest that one way we can make our ward meetings serve as a shadow by day and a pillar by night is to come prepared next week to talk about the Savior, having read through Isaiah 22-30, looking for passages that speak of the Savior?