Isaiah chapter 48 specifically addresses the Lord's covenant people of the house of Israel, then as well as now. (cf INe19:23-24 and INe10:14) Nephi inserted Isaiah 48-49 into his record for a reason, and my commentary will address that reason as being the encoded revelation to us in the latter days that a special servant will be called to direct and oversee the great work of effecting the re-grafting of the natural branches of the house of Israel back into the the olive tree (Christ). Nephi has already had a vision of the history of the house of Israel throughout all time, and wanted Jacob's descendants to know they would eventually be taken care of. He also wanted to tell us directly about the servant, but was prevented from talking about him in plainness, so he used Isaiah very effectively to obfuscate the issue. Discussion of the "servant" has become a controversial issue in some quarters, so I want to here and now make the appropriate disclaimers: these are my opinions, and I am not representing these as hard-and-fast facts, merely possibilities. v1 I identify Jacob as being natural branches of Israel with distinct ethnic identities, such as Jews, Lehi's descendants, and the 10 Tribes. The Abrahamic covenant is yet to be confirmed to them, but is imminent. (cf Gen 32:28 - Jacob's covenant with the Lord is confirmed when his name is changed to Israel). Jacob = "one who supplants (replaces)". Israel = "Let God Prevail" I identify Israel as the church restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith, who received the keys of the gathering of Israel directly by the hands of heavenly messengers. The Abrahamic covenant has been confirmed in the church through divine authority through apostles and prophets who direct the Lord's kingdom on the earth at this time. Isaiah begins this chapter by saying that the Lord's people are dishonoring their oaths and covenants. v2 They invoke the Lord's protection because of who they are and where they live (the Holy City = Jerusalem) instead of how they are living. v3 "Former things" are types (prophesies) of future events. v4-5 The Lord's people are stiffnecked ("iron sinew") enough to claim credit themselves for the fulfillment of prophesy instead of humbly accepting "the Lord's will be done." v6 The Lord's people possess fulness of gospel and full knowledge of the plan of salvation, and it is their duty and responsibility to "proclaim the gospel" and "perfect the Saints" but they are not being valiant in this duty. "New things" are promised, which in the context of INe represent temporal and spiritual redemptive events, ie, just as Nephi was the temporal savior or deliverer of his people (as was Moses to his people) and provided them with both food and spiritual sustenance (the words of the Lord), it is probable that by including these two Isaiah chapters, Nephi is portraying himself as the "type" of a latter-day temporal savior who will be the forerunner of the Messiah's second coming, just as John the Baptist prepared the people temporally for the first coming of the Lord. The "hidden things" mentioned could be new scriptural records of the other scattered tribes, or a direct reference to the coming forth of the scriptural record contained in the Book of Mormon. v7 Some latter-day events will be a surprise, ie, we can't say we knew they would occur through our understanding of scriptural prophesies. v8 The history of the house of Israel has had its high and low points, and sometimes they have dealt treacherously, ie, rebelling against their prophets and their covenants. v9 Often the Lord, through mortal agents, causes destruction to come upon His people, causing destruction, scattering, and chastening. These "bad" things are called "covenant curses" because they are a direct result of their being disobedient to their covenants. In spite of the curses on the people as a whole, usually a righteous remnant is preserved to carry on the Lord's work. v10 Whomsoever the Lord loves, he chastens, tries, and refines until they are purged of impurities and perfected. v11 It is the Lord's work and glory to redeem his people; the glory goes to the Lord only, but most of the work is delegated to His servants, some holding more responsibility than others. v12-13 The Lord identifies himself as alpha and omega, the beginning (creator) and the end (redeemer), ultimately the millennial King. v14 An (as yet) unidentified servant whom the Lord loves will be temporally (militarily) victorious against forces of evil. v15 The servant of the Lord in v14 was officially chosen and specifically called to perform specific duties. v16 The servant called by the Lord in v15 declares that he has been officially commissioned by the Lord and endowed with His spirit to assist in gathering scattered people back into the covenant. v17 The Lord affirms yet again that He has officially commissioned a servant to be His agent to guide His people. v18 The Lord shifts his rhetoric to His people, upon which He longs to shower blessings of peace, conditioned upon their righteousness. v19 Flashing back to imagery of the Abrahamic covenant, the Lord reminds His people that righteousness and adherance to the terms of the covenant yields blessings, one of which is to have a numerous posterity, whereas rebellion results in having one's name cut off from the Book of Life, another covenant curse. v20 The house of Israel is cautioned to remove themselves from the world and its wickedness, lest they share its fate, total destruction. The Lord instructs His empowered servant to forcefully announce to all scattered covenant people "to the end of the earth" that the redemption of Jacob (natural branches of the house of Israel not yet within the covenant) is imminent. v21 The "exodus imagery" is recited as an ancient "type" indicating the probability of a latter-day exodus complete with an extended wandering in the wilderness, led by someone of whom Moses was an ancient type, in order to bring about the gathering process. v22 Notwithstanding the miraculous and marvelous dealings of the Lord in the gathering of His people, the wicked among them will NOT participate therein. --- Bob Westover In a conversation I had this week with Kurt, we decided to insert Isaiah 48 and 49 out of sequence here, in order to correlate our chapter study with the contemporary Gospel Doctrine lesson on the Book of Mormon which covers I Ne 20-21. We decided also that I would "volunteer" to do the commentary for these two chapters. Please understand that this is my first attempt at doing anything of this scale. I don't pretend to be an Isaiah "scholar," merely an Isaiah "student." As a student, my overall viewpoint is that Nephi inserted these two chapters into his record for specific reasons, so my commentary will reflect this relation- ship. So, esteemed S-L colleagues, "let us reason together" and try to find out what Isaiah wants us to know. Please note also that a complete and exhaustive consideration of these two chapters would take much longer than the several days I've had to put this together, so if I omit something you feel is relevant, or misstate, please feel free to constructively criticize or add. As background, I quote 1Ne10:14 because it relates directly to the chapters we are considering: "And after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer." Also, in 1Ne19:23-24 Nephi says: "I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning. : a - Hear ye the words of the prophet, b - ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel, b'- a branch who have been broken off; a'- Hear ye the words of the prophet, : for after this manner has the prophet written." [ie, in chiasms and in subject matter] Prior to this, Nephi told of the miraculous deliverance by Moses of the children of Israel from Egypt, and their subsequent exodus and wandering experiences, and eventual gathering into the promised land. This is stated to show that the deliverance of Lehi's group from Jerusalem, and THEIR subsequent exodus and wandering experiences, plus THEIR gathering into THEIR promised land was no less miraculous than that of Moses. Nephi inserted Isaiah 48-49 into his record for a reason, and my commentary will address that reason as being the encoded revelation to us in the latter days that a special servant will be called to direct and oversee the great work of effecting the re-grafting of the natural branches of the house of Israel back into the the olive tree (Christ). Nephi has already had a vision of the history of the house of Israel throughout all time, and wanted Jacob's descendants to know they would eventually be taken care of. He also wanted to tell us directly about the servant, but was prevented from talking about him in plainness, so he used Isaiah very effectively to obfuscate the issue. Discussion of the "servant", AKA the "latter-day David," has become a controversial issue in some quarters, so I want to here and now make the appropriate disclaimers: these are my opinions, and I am not representing these as hard-and-fast facts or church doctrine, merely possibilities to explore. For further background and documentation as to the identity of the "latter-day David" I recommend the entry in *Encyc of Mormonism* entitled "David, Prophetic Figure of Last Days." Isaiah chapter 48 specifically addresses the Lord's covenant people of the house of Israel, making direct references to their hypocracies, idolatry, stiffneckedness, and treacheries. Figuratively, Isaiah prophesies of latter-day episodes of a new exodus and new wandering in the wilderness patterned after the experiences of Moses and Nephi, thus fitting into the context of Nephi's record. v1 I identify Jacob as being of the covenant lineage (natural branches of Israel) with distinct ethnic identities, such as Jews, Lehi's descendants, and the 10 Tribes. The Abrahamic covenant is yet to be confirmed to them, but is imminent. (cf Gen 32:28 - Jacob's covenant with the Lord is confirmed when his name is changed to Israel). Jacob = "one who supplants (replaces)". Israel = "Let God Prevail" Historically, of course, the Jews now call themselves "Israel" because that's the name of their LAND. I normally identify Israel as the church restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith, who received the keys of the gathering of Israel directly at the hands of heavenly messengers. The Abrahamic covenant has been confirmed in the church through divine authority unto apostles and prophets who direct the Lord's kingdom on the earth at this time. Note in v12 that Israel is referred to as "called" or elect. Isaiah begins this chapter by saying that the Lord's people are dishonoring their oaths and covenants. v2 They invoke the Lord's protection because of who they are and where they live (the Holy City = Jerusalem) instead of how they are living. v3 "Former things" are Biblical types (prophesies) of future events. v4-5 The Lord's people are stiffnecked ("iron sinew") enough to claim credit themselves for the fulfillment of prophesy instead of humbly accepting "the Lord's will be done." Historically today, many secular Jews claim that it was they who made the desert blossom as a rose with their tractors, bulldozers, and other machinery, instead of giving glory to God. v6 Isaiah here tells "Jacob" that they know the end from the beginning through their access to their scriptural records of their prophets, yet they are not proclaiming it or living it. We LDS people possess the fulness of gospel and full knowledge of the plan of salvation, and it is our duty and responsibility to "proclaim the gospel" and "perfect the Saints." Are we valiant in this duty? Or are we too busy with our idolatrous lifestyles? "New things" are promised, which in the context of 1Ne represent temporal and spiritual redemptive events, ie, just as Nephi was the temporal savior or deliverer of his people (as was Moses to his people) and provided them with both food and spiritual sustenance (the words of the Lord), it is figurative that by including these two Isaiah chapters, Nephi is portraying himself as the "type" of a latter-day temporal savior who will be the forerunner of the Messiah's second coming, just as John the Baptist prepared the people temporally for the first coming of the Lord. The "hidden things" mentioned could be new scriptural records of the other scattered tribes, or a direct reference to the coming forth of the scriptural record contained in the Book of Mormon. v7 Some prophesied events will be a surprise, ie, we can't say we knew they would occur through our understanding of scriptural prophesies. v8 The history of the house of Israel has had its high and low points, and sometimes they have dealt treacherously, ie, rebelling against their prophets and their covenants. v9 Often the Lord, who takes our sins upon Himself, utilizes mortal agents to cause destruction to come upon His people, causing suffering, scattering, and chastening. These "bad" things are called "covenant curses" because they are a direct result of their being disobedient to their covenants. In spite of the curses on the people as a whole, usually a righteous remnant is preserved to carry on the Lord's work. Figuratively, the Lord's "wrath" is a pseudonym for the archtyrant du jour, like the King of Assyria in Isa 10:5, and Isa 37:29 which specifically mentions "bridling." v10 Whomsoever the Lord loves, he chastens, tries, and refines until they are purged of impurities and perfected. v11 It is the Lord's work and glory to redeem his people; the glory goes to the Lord only, but most of the work is delegated to His servants, some holding more responsibility than others. v12-13 The Lord identifies himself as alpha and omega, the beginning (creator) and the end (redeemer), ultimately the millennial King. Rhetorically, the Lord equates the heavenly bodies to His Celestial posterity, as shown in Isa40:26. v14 The Lord's prophets are the servants who foretell of events to come. Figuratively, a servant whom the Lord loves will be temporally (militarily) victorious against forces of evil. (As in Isa43:14) v15 The servant of the Lord in v14 was officially chosen and specifically called to perform pre-defined duties. v16 The servant called by the Lord in v15 declares that he has been officially commissioned by the Lord and endowed with His spirit. Rhetorically, this is supported in Isa42:1, and 61:1 where specific duties of the servant are defined. v17 The Lord affirms yet again that He has officially commissioned a servant to be His agent to guide His people. v18 The Lord shifts his rhetoric to His people, upon which He longs to shower blessings of peace, conditioned upon their righteousness. v19 Flashing back to imagery of the Abrahamic covenant, the Lord reminds His people that righteousness and adherance to the terms of the covenant yields blessings, one of which is to have a numerous posterity, whereas rebellion results in having one's name cut off from the Book of Life, another covenant curse. (See Isa4:3) v20 The house of Israel is cautioned to remove themselves from the world and its wickedness, lest they share its fate, total destruction. The Lord instructs His empowered servant to forcefully announce to all scattered covenant people "to the end of the earth" that the redemption of Jacob (natural branches of the house of Israel not yet within the covenant) is imminent. v21 The "exodus imagery" is recited as an ancient "type" indicating the probability of a latter-day exodus complete with an extended wandering in the wilderness, led by someone of whom Moses was an ancient type, in order to bring about the gathering process. This is rhetorically substantiated in Isa33:16. v22 Notwithstanding the miraculous and marvelous dealings of the Lord in the gathering of His people, the wicked among them will NOT participate therein. Repeated in Isa57:21, this is a reiteration of the principle of the "Two ways," ie, peace (salvation) for the righteous, and destruction for the wicked. --- Bob Westover