Nephi
begins his transcription of 14 consecutive Isaiah chapters from the brass
plates to his small plates with Isaiah 2. Not all prophets are seers, but
Isaiah was. Much of his prophecy is shared in the form of descriptive visions.
The first image he shares is of something called the “mountain of the Lord’s
house” (verse 2). Now, just as with the Apostle John’s Book of Revelation, it’s
an interesting exercise to think about what Isaiah might be describing in his
day when he is seeing ours, without the modern vocabulary available to describe
what’s before his eyes.
Most
Latter-day Saint leaders and scholars have concluded that the phrase “mountain
of the Lord’s house” refers to temples. Isaiah’s prophecy says that these
temples will be established in the last days in the top of the mountains, and “all
nations shall flow unto it.” In these last days, we have witnessed the
construction of many temples around the world that have attracted people who
want to know more about them and the people who worship there. Some of these
people ultimately become baptized and are able to make sacred covenants within
the temple. Many observers remark that this passage seems especially applicable
to the Salt Lake City temple, viewed by many as the flagship temple of the
Church. Of course, it was built in an area of high elevation (“in the tops of
the mountains”). Many members of the Church from around the world come to visit
the temple and worship there, and more still outside of the Church come to
admire the temple’s exterior and the visitors center and surrounding complex (“all
nations shall flow unto it”).
Verse
3 expands upon the idea of the temple as “mountain of the Lord” and “house of
the God of Jacob” by describing some of its functions. It is a place where the
Lord can teach us of His ways and we can walk in His paths. Then a very
significant passage says that “out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem.” We can read this symbolically. Many of us know in
the Bible that Zion and Jerusalem are names for each other, so once again we
can conclude that instruction and commandments for our daily lives can come
from holy places (such as the temple) that remind us of the Holy Land.
But
there’s a literal interpretation as well. According to Joseph Smith and other
latter-day prophets, Zion is actually the name of a place separate from
Jerusalem, sometimes known as the New Jerusalem. It actually represents the
American continent. If we think of Zion as America, it seems appropriate that
the reference to it is made at this point in the Book of Mormon, because Nephi
has showed us in his story how the American continent is a promised land for some
of the Lord’s covenant people in a similar way that the land of Israel and Jerusalem
are for others.
The
Church teaches that verse 3 prophesies directly about the state of ultimate
order that will exist on the earth after the time of Christ’s Second Coming,
during the thousand-year period known as the Millennium where the influence of
evil will be banished. During that time, Jesus will personally reign upon the
earth and will send forth his word from Jerusalem, the same place he lived,
taught, died and was resurrected. He will have another “capital” in Zion (America)
from which the law will go forth. What is the law? Perhaps it is synonymous
with the word of the Lord, since we know that whatever the Lord says is true
and generally can be seen as a type of law. But there is another meaning as
well. America has a special significance that will apparently persist to some
extent even after Jesus comes to reign as the place where the best, most
inspired system of law was established under the Constitution of the United
States.
Isaiah
goes on in verse 4 to very succinctly refer to the judgment Jesus will exercise
over the people when He comes. One thing he will do is help the people
understand the undesirability and futility of violence. In this beautifully
poetic passage, they beat their swords into plow-shares, with nations learning
how to grow and cultivate things instead of destroying them.
As
the chapter continues, a familiar theme emerges from Isaiah’s words that is in
line with Jacob’s sermon to the people that Nephi recorded in 2 Nephi 9-10.
This theme is that all people go astray from God and His commandments in one
way or another, and thus need saving. As Isaiah continues, he tells his audience
to avoid false saviors (soothsayers and idols) and warns against pride, or
those that “boweth not down.”
Isaiah
uses repetition to drive home that the day of the Lord will affect everyone
everywhere. It’s not something to be avoided, but to be prepared for, as the
Lord is good and wants us to be able to prepare. That’s precisely why Isaiah
and Nephi are making sure we know to be ready.
As
Nephi transcribes Isaiah’s words, we observe something truly amazing. Verse 16
contains three clauses linked by commas: “And upon all the ships of the sea,
and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.” The verse
is saying that the great day of the Lord will extend everywhere, even to the
ships carrying goods around the known world and those docked in far distant
lands such as Tarshish (thought to be Spain or perhaps somewhere in India). Keep
in mind that Joseph Smith translated Nephi’s transcription into English as we now
have it. If you look at the corresponding verse in the Book of Isaiah in the
King James version of the Old Testament, you will find the second and third
clauses, but not the first. And if you refer to the old Greek Septuagint version
of the Old Testament, the corresponding verse has the first and third clauses
but not the second. So what? So Joseph Smith’s translation somehow managed to
incorporate a clause that had somehow been lost between the time the Septuagint
was copied and the King James version of the Bible was published. It’s been
said that there was no way that the young Joseph Smith had access to a
Septuagint. If that is true, his ability to translate a clause he had no reason
to know had been missing from English-language Bibles reinforces the genuine
nature of his visions, translations, and prophetic calling. It reinforces
everything he did and claimed to be.
The
chapter ends with a very provocative question: “Cease ye from man, whose breath
is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?” Isaiah is saying, “Don’t
look to man as your point of reference. He’s nothing special. He’s not God, and
you don’t answer to him.” This thought carries over into the next chapter.
You
can read the entire chapter, and the corresponding chapter from Isaiah, at the
following links: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/12?lang=eng
and https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/isa/2?lang=eng.
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