Skip to main content

The Book of Mormon: Isaiah and Nephi Remind us of God's Love, Covenants, and Plans for Us

It's easy to make a superficial reading of the Book of Mormon and think that Joseph Smith made it all up. But please don't dismiss the power and authenticity of the Book of Mormon. It is far more intricate than most people imagine. For example, here's something interesting that shows why the witness of the biblical prophet Isaiah is so critical to the Book of Mormon.


When Joseph Smith dictated the translation of the Book of Mormon to Oliver Cowdery (or other scribes), he dictated chapter breaks that are vastly different from the ones that we have today.

In the 1870 edition of the Book of Mormon, those original chapter breaks were radically altered, including the creation of individual chapters 12-24 of the Book of 2nd Nephi that essentially correspond with chapters 2-14 of Isaiah in the Bible.

But here's where it gets interesting. When Nephi wrote the plates--and when Joseph Smith dictated the translation of those plates--the Isaiah material was composed of THREE chapters. (Similarly, 1st Nephi and the first 10 chapters of 2 Nephi were originally composed of Nephi's chapters 1 thru 7, even though they make up 32 chapters now.)

Chapter 8 (comprising Isaiah 2-5) discusses how the House of Israel had become a wayward and sinful.

Chapter 9 (Isaiah 6-12) points out that God had the power to compensate for Israel's waywardness, and, through the scattering of Israel throughout all nations, could bring to their remembrance the covenants that we had made with our Heavenly Parents in premortality.

Chapter 10 (Isaiah 13-14) shows how God's "arm" (his power) will be revealed through the covenants he has made with people out of all nations, how they can also become divine ("kings and queens") and how those few "enemies" who rebel against those covenants (and their divine potential) will not experience the same blessings and eternal progress.

One other important thing to point out here is that Nephi challenges each reader to "liken" the things that he or she reads to themselves (1 Nephi 19:23). Using this likening technique, these 3 chapters of Isaiah/Nephi can also teach each of us about our personal eternal progress:

Chapter 8 - Each of us has sins and other shortcomings.

Chapter 9 - Because of the atonement of Christ, God can compensate for those weaknesses through reminding us of our pre-mortal covenants (which are re-established on earth today in temples of God).

Chapter 10 - Because of those covenants, our Heavenly Parents have the power to teach us--and to enable us--to overcome all our weaknesses and to become like themselves.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting. If you have a Google/Blogger account, to be apprised of ongoing comment activity on this article, please click the "Subscribe" link below.

Popular posts from this blog

School Vouchers: "The Bramble Memo"

$429 million? What? Where? The legislative fiscal analyst for the State of Utah calculated the costs to the public schools over the next 13 years if school vouchers are implemented. It said the costs would be $5.5M in the first year, and $71M in the 13th year. Suddenly, the number I have started seeing thrown around was $429 million, the total costs for vouchers over 13 years. Where did that number come from? Enter the mysterious "Bramble Memo". In the past few days several of us (Jeremy, Utah Taxpayer, Craig, Sara, Urban Koda, Jesse, and me) have (sometimes?) enjoyed a lively discussion about school vouchers in Utah . Jeremy clarified to me the costs of the venture by linking to a copy of the Utah Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Impartial Analysis (LFA) of the costs of Vouchers , found on "The Senate Site". In my previous voucher article, I quoted some of Lavar Webb's article from last Sunday's Deseret News, wherein he stated that those total costs ...
66 comments
Read more

The Inhumanity of Bob Lonsberry: Waterboarding, Concentration Camps, and the the Bataan Death March

KNRS 570 radio talk show host Bob Lonsberry advocated waterboarding and other forms of torture during his show on April 21, 2009. More grotesquely, he was beaming with pride about his advocacy campaign. It's difficult to imagine then, that, by the same rationale, had Lonsberry been a German at the time of Hitler, or a Japanese during the Bataan Death March, that he would not have advocated torture of Jews in the concentration camps or the bayoneting and shooting of American soldiers on the Bataan trail. Torture, Torture, Everywhere! Nearly 80,000 American soldiers were captured by the Japanese in the To contemplate a discussion about whether or not torture is legal or whether it even works, it is first required to come to the conclusion that 'I am a child of God, but my adversary is a monkey'. Phillipines in 1942 and forced to march with no food and very little water for six days. If a man stumbled, if he didn't respond quickly to a command, or if he tried to get wat...
50 comments
Read more

Amazing Grace: Why Do So Many Mormons Not Get It?

Note on Comments for This Post: Somehow, blogger is displaying about 3 fewer comments than have actually been entered. I have added 3 comments, so that the last relevant ones will be shown. In addition, I have closed comments on this article. Please click on this link to continue commenting on the original article . Sorry for the inconvenience. In large part because of the many childish and tyrannical things we do to each other (and to ourselves), life sometimes seems to suck. God, however, did not intend it to be that way. Unfortunately, our worst tormentor is often ourselves. We Mormons mentally flagellate ourselves on a regular basis. God especially did not intend it to be this way. Instead, he hopes that we will look upward and see the Amazing Grace that he gives to us. We're so busy with the seeming enjoyment of miring ourselves in guilt, however, that we seldom even notice that his grace is at our fingertips. Amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch l...
44 comments
Read more