The Isaiah chapters
I distinctly remember being 10 years old laying on the floor of my bedroom that I shared with my three brothers, there were two bunk beds with clothes and toys all over the floor. I must have been challenged by my parents or a church teacher to read the Book of Mormon on my own from cover to cover. I started reading, I didn’t get too far in the first chapter before discovering we had audio cassettes that I could listen and someone could read it to men. I enjoyed listening about Lehi and Nephi and his brothers, when I arrived at the”the Isaiah chapters” and I don’t remember reading much more because I really could not follow along to what Isaiah was trying to say. I had a flashback this this experience one September day in 2002 when I was sitting with my companion across the table for and old Chilean lady where her mouth was moving a thousand miles a minute and I didn’t understand a thing!
It is really hard to stick with something when we don’t have a clear picture of what it is being said or in a language that you don’t know, it is no different than the words of Isaiah in the later chapters of 2 Nephi. So why did Nephi take the time to etch his words, again, into his record on the plates?
In the Bible dictionary under Isaiah I found what may have been the reason for Nephi’s “delight” in Isaiah’s words.
Isaiah The Lord is salvation. Son of Amoz, a prophet in Jerusalem during 40 years, 740–701 B.C. He had great religious and political influence during the reign of Hezekiah, whose chief advisor he was. Tradition states that he was “sawn asunder” during the reign of Manasseh; for that reason he is often represented in art holding a saw.
Isaiah – the bible dictionary
It was right in the first line where he it reads that Isaiah was the Lord’s prophet from 701-740 B.C. and was then sawn asunder (google that…yikes ). I thought about the date, 740 B.C. and thought about Lehi and Nephi and thought about when they were alive and thought why did Nephi and his brother Jacob delight in his words so much. I did a quick math equation, 740 – 545 = 195. 740 for the year that Isaiah was the prophet and 545 for the year that Nephi wrote chapters 11-25. I then did a second quick equation 1820 + 195 = 2015. I then understood why Nephi loved Isaiah and emphasizes his words, it is the same reason that many of our latter-day prophets like Lee, Kimball, Benson, Hunter, Hinckley and Monson revered and emphasized the life of the prophet Joseph Smith… they lived around 195 years after the First Vision, Joseph’s life was as relevant to us as Isaiah’s was to Lehi’s family.
Isaiah is the most quoted of all the prophets, being more frequently quoted by Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John (in his Revelation) than any other Old Testament prophet. Likewise the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants quote from Isaiah more than from any other prophet. The Lord told the Nephites that “great are the words of Isaiah,” and that all things Isaiah spoke of the house of Israel and of the Gentiles would be fulfilled
Isaiah – the bible dictionary
The book of Isaiah and its chapters in the Book of Mormon are about the birth, life, death and millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Is was so importeant that Nephi and Jacob remind thier people of his words so that the people knew that the Lord required righteousness.
Nephi declared:
“my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ.” “…also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers.” “And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish.”
2 Nephi 11:4-6
There is some sharp imagery in chapter 16 where Isaiah is in the temple and has a vision of seeing the Lord sitting on his throne, the doorways shake, and the room fills with smoke and Isaiah exclaims
“Wo is unto me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.
2 Nephi 16 5-7
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar;
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Today we live in a world of “unclean lips” full of temptation and sin on all sides. In these chapters Isaiah talks about grace that we are all saved by grace after all we can do. The “all we can do part” is to believe and have faith in Jesus Christ. We can overcome this world as we draw closer to Him, believe in Him, and have faith in Him.