Old Testament Commentary - Isaiah 9/2 Nephi 19

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [Isaiah 9]	Scriptural Text [2 Nephi 19]	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 9 Isaiah speaks Messianically—The people in darkness shall see a great Light—Unto us a Child is born—He shall be the Prince of Peace and reign on David's throne—Compare 2 Nephi 19.	CHAPTER 19 Isaiah speaks Messianically—The people in darkness to see great Light—Unto us a child is born—He shall be the Prince of Peace and shall reign on David's throne—Compare Isaiah 9. [Between 559 and 545 B.C.]
1 ^aNEVERTHELESS the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, ^bwhen at the first he lightly afflicted the land of ^cZebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee^a of the nations. 2 The people that walked in ^adarkness have seen a great ^blight: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined^a. Poorly Versed? — Or Error? It would seem that this has been poorly versed, meaning that the division between verse 1 and 2 is better placed so that the proper understanding of what is being said is provided. In the 1830 version of the Book of Mormon, which is in sentence and paragraph form rather than in scriptural verses, only the paragraph divisions are preserved from the Isaiah chapters with no chapter divisions little alone verse divisions. It only the paragraph divisions with one chapter running on into the next. Even then, the sentence punctuation is still much the same as was provided by the King James translators. In the case of the first two divided 'verses,' it seems a better divide thought wise to divide these first two 'sentences' slightly different as follows: 1 ^aNEVERTHELESS the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, ^bwhen at the first he lightly afflicted the land of ^cZebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the Red sea. 2 Beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations, the people that walked in ^adarkness have seen a great ^blight: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the Light shined. In the KJV it seems to associate the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali with the sea, which they are nearby to the sea at Galilee. But where were the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali in Egypt? Could they not have been near and associated with the Red Sea there? Certainly one ought to consider that the tribes had tribal divisions of lands while located in Egypt. In my opinion, we have all been misled by a poor 'verse division' of the unpunctuated Hebrew text that has thrown the idea of 'sea' together with Galilee when they should have been kept in two separate sentence statements. But the Hebrew had no such sentence divisions in its text to draw correctly from. And when punctuating the Book of Mormon text, it would seem reasonable to consult the KJV for the punctuation of Isaiah. And thus this change in the division of the sentences seems to become necessary because the Book of Mormon rendition from the plates of brass adds the fact the it is the Red Sea being referenced and not the sea of Galilee as presumed in the original text of Isaiah. Thus in this divided form, the comparison is between the earlier days, even back to the time of Egypt and the Red Sea afflictions, which if the change in division of the sentence is not made, does but make the Red Sea's local change to being beyond Jordon, in Galilee. Of course the Red Sea is not located there, but is down along the coast of Egypt. Thus the suggested change of sentence punctuation and effectively understanding of what is being said. Joseph Smith's inspired translation of the Bible does also retain that is was the 'Red Sea'. Saddly that also retains the KJV sentence division assumption of the King James Bible. The only other alternative to not making this sentence division is that either Nephi who was familiar with the geography of the Holy Land, made an inadvertant engraving mistake in making the sea in Galilee the 'Red Sea'. Or even it might be that Joseph Smith, 'Heaven Forbid', Oliver Cowdery, or even the printers may have been human enough to have made the error themhimself, including the word 'Red' in conjunction with the sea which should be the Sea of Galilee and not the 'Red Sea' of Egypt. But then you lose the comparative case.	1 ^aNEVERTHELESS, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at first he lightly afflicted the ^bland of ^cZebulun, and the land of ^dNaphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict by the way of the Red Sea beyond Jordan in Galilee^a of the nations. 2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined^a. 2^a they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined 'The Land of the Shadow of Death' and that light to so shine may well be a dullistic porphetic reference only only to Galilee, but to America and the restoration. What better title or name could there be for that land where the Jaredites parished, the Nephite nation was destroyed and possibly the children of Adam at the flood of Noah drowned? This is the land of America, the land of Joseph, the land of Adam, the land of the Jaredites, which land is protected to be a choice land unto our Great God. And it is protected by a 'curse' that whosoever does live on or possess this land, they shall worship the Lord their God, or else they shall be swept off when they have become ripened in their iniquity. Certainly it is a 'Land of the Shadow of Death' because the shadow of death is upon it unto the wicked in the covenant promises of the Lord. And particularly about the western New York regions of the Land of Cumorah or the Land of Ramah, where in particluar the light of the restoration did shine forth in that particular 'land of the shadow of death'. Isaiah in chapter 18 writes a particular message to this particular land which he terms the land shadowing with wings (See Isaiah 18:1 commentary for additional and further insights there.) Two other references come to mind which might be will to coorelate here. In Psalms it speaks of the 'valley of the shadow of death' (Psalms 23:4) and in Ezekiel it speaks of the 'valley of dried bones' to be resurrected (Ezekiel 37:1-12). And particularly in Ezekiel it speaks of the bones all being of Israel. Yet how else are any of all the dead who have lived and died before blessed but by the blessings of the House of Israel? And are not all so adopted or brought into that House of Israel as they join themselves by baptism into the Kingdom of God, even that vicarious baptism for the dead? Have Seen A Great Light Galilee was a province of peoples from many nations, thus the description of it being described as 'Galilee of the nations' is quite apt. Now the 'Great Light', which the people of Galilee were to see in the land of the shadow of death, since the afflictions of the scattering of Israel, is that time when Jesus Christ did walk the earth along the shores of the Sea of Galilee and did shine forth as the 'Great Light' to those people who had been in darkness.	1^a Isa. 9:1-21 ^b Matt. 4:15-16 ^c Josh. 19:10-16 ^d Josh. 19:33 (32-39) 1^a 2 Ne. 19:1-21 ^b Rabbinical commentators relate this to the attacks by Assyria under Tiglath-pileser and Sargon II ^c Matt. 4:15 (14-16) 2^a The "dimness" and "darkness" were apostasy and captivity (Isa. 8:20-22); the "great light" is Christ (Isa. 9:6-7); TG Darkness, Spiritual ^b TG Jesus Christ, Light of the World; TG Light Red Sea of Galilee? 2^a/a by the way of the sea, beyond Jordon, in Galilee ~OR~ by the way of the Red Sea beyond Jordon in Galilee For those who seek 'errors' in the Book of Mormon, here seems to be a 'real one' depending upon the perspective with which one looks at it. As explained in the first column under the title 'Poorly Versed? — Or Error?', there seems to a need of some type of accomodation for the Book of Mormon's inclusion of the word Red, making it the 'Red Sea' rather than just the 'sea'. The fact that the Book of Mormon should contain such an 'error' is of no real concern to the truely converted, for the Book of Mormon on the title page has as its last sentence the disclaimer placed there by either Mormon or Moroni, that if there are such 'errors', either in engraving or in some such human error, even in weakness of understanding; that those errors of men ought not deter the things or works of God. Thus the error of either poorly punctuating the two sentences, for certainly Hebrew has no such punctuation in its original, or the inclusion error in the Book of Mormon as a possible inadvertatnt error in engraving 'Red Sea' by Nephi or perhaps even by Joseph Smith's own weakness or Oliver Cowdery's or even the publisher's type set error. Or even a 'Jewish' compiler's error in not providing the word Red and/or the Bible translator's error over time. Whatever the 'human error' which caused the poor sentence division or the additon of the word 'Red', it is but a human error, which the Bible does contain in it, and the Book of Mormon does not proclaim to be perfect either. In which ever case, the Bible is still the Word of God written, compiled and translated by men; as is the same truth of the Book of Mormon, it being the Word of God. And if man makes a human error in such production of the scriptural Word of God, it is man's error and ought not to be used to dimimish the value of the scriptural Word of God. [As an added note of interest, the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible includes he added word 'Red' in its text, but differs from the Book of Mormon, as it does not capitalize the word 'sea' after it. And there Joseph does not divide the standard versing and sentences of the KJV, though it would made better sense to do as as explained in the first column at the left.] [Note: While the JST, Isaiah 9:1 confirms 'Red Sea', the fact that Matthew 4:14, in quoting from the Hebrew book of Isaiah leaving it as just 'sea' is not of consequence. Even Joseph Smith's JST leaves Matthew 4:14 as just 'sea', after all the period writers of the Hebrew to Greek text only confirm that the Isaiah Hebrew text had been 'sea' in the Jewish Bible by that date.]
3 Thou hast ^amultiplied the ^bnation, ^cand not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men ^drejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For thou hast broken the ^ayoke of his ^bburden, and the staff of his shoulder, the ^crod of his oppressor, as ^din the day of ^eMidian. 5 ^aFor every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with ^bburning and fuel of fire.	3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and ^aincreased the joy—they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For thou hast broken the yoke of ^ahis burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his ^boppressor. 5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but ^athis shall be with burning and fuel of fire.	3^a Isa. 9:3 3^a Isa. 26:15 ^b Abr. 2:9 ^c Or and increased the joy to him; 2 Ne. 19:3 (2-7) ^d Ps. 119:162 4^a IE Israel, the nation mentioned in v. 3 ^b TG Oppression 4^a TG Bondage, Spiritual ^b Isa. 10:27 (24-27) ^c Isa. 14:5 ^d HEB was broken in the day of Midian ^e Judg. 7:23 (19-23); Isa. 10:26 5^a Mal. 4:1 5^a HEB When the whole battle...was with confused noise, and...blood ^b This "burning" is to be the cleansing of the earth by fire prior to the setting up of the Messianic kingdom; 3 Ne. 25:1; D&C 64:23-24; JS-H. 1:37
6 For unto us a ^achild is ^bborn, unto us a ^cson is given: and the ^dgovernment shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, ^eCounsellor, The ^fmighty ^gGod, The ^heverlasting Father, The Prince of ⁱPeace. 7 Of the increase of his ^agovernment and peace there shall be no ^bend, upon the throne of ^cDavid, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with ^djustice from henceforth even for ever. The ^ezeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.	6 For unto us a ^achild is born^a, unto us a son is given; and the ^bgovernment shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The ^cMighty God, The ^dEverlasting Father, The Prince of ^ePeace. 7 Of the increase of ^agovernment and peace ^bthere is no end, upon the throne of ^cDavid, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. 6^a For unto us a child is born Popularized by the production of Handel's Messiah, this verse also clearly establishes that the Messiah would come to earth, take upon himself a body of flesh and bone and walk among men. And that he is that same God of the Old Testament known as 'The Mighty God' and as the 'Everlasting Father', even 'The Prince of Peace'.	6^a Isa. 7:14; Luke 2:11 ^b Matt. 28:18 ^c Titus 2:13; Mosaih 7:27; TG Jesus Christ—Jehovah; TG Jesus Christ, Power of ^d 2 Ne. 26:12; Mosaih 3:5; Alma 11:39 (38-39, 44); Moro. 7:22; Moro. 8:18 ^e Micah 5:5; D&C 27:16; D&C 111:8 6^a TG Jesus Christ, Prophecies about ^b TG God, Manifestations of; TG Jesus Christ, Birth of ^c TG Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship ^d TG Governments; TG Jesus Christ, Authority of; TG Jesus Christ, Millennial Reign; TG Jesus Christ, Misson of ^e TG Counselors ^f TG Jesus Christ, Power of; ^g Mosaih 7:27 (26-27) ^h TG Immortality ⁱ TG Peace; TG Peace of God 7^a TG Kingdom of God, on Earth ^b Dan. 2:44 ^c Ezek. 37:24 7^a TG Governments; TG Kingdom of God, on Earth ^b Luke 1:33 (32-33) ^c TG Jesus Christ, Davidic Descent of ^d TG God, Justice of; TG Justice ^e TG Zeal
8 ¶ The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon ^aIsrael. 9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the ^apride and stoutness of heart, 10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.	8 The Lord sent his word unto Jacob and it hath lighted upon Israel. 9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart: 10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn ^astones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into ^bcedars.	8^a IE The prophetic message that follows (vv. 8-21) was a warning to the northern ten tribes, called Israel 9^a 2 Ne. 9:28-29 10^a 1 Kings 5:17 ^b 1 Kings 5:6
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of ^aRezin against him, and join his enemies together; 12 The Syrians ^abefore, and the Philistines ^bbehind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his ^canger is not turned away, but his ^dhand is ^estretched out still.	11 Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of ^aRezin against him, and join his enemies together; 12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; and they shall ^adevour Israel with open mouth. For all this his ^banger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.	11^a 2 Kings 16:9 (7-9) 11^a Isa. 7:1 12^a 2 Kings 17:6 (1-18) ^b Isa. 5:25; Isa. 10:4; Jer. 4:8 12^a IE on the east ^b IE on the west ^c Jer. 4:8 ^d IE In spite of all, the LORD is available if they will turn to him (also vv. 17, 21) ^e TG God, Access to
13 ¶ For the people ^aturneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they ^bseek the LORD of hosts. 14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. 15 The ^aancient and honourable, he is the head; and the ^bprophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.	13 For the people turneth not unto ^ahim that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts. 14 Therefore will the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush ^ain one day. 15 The ^aancient, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.	13^a Amos 4:10 (6-12) 13^a TG Rebellion ^b Hosea 7:10 14^a Isa. 10:17 15^a Isa. 9:15 15^a OR elder and men of rank; 2 Ne. 19:15 ^b TG False Prophets
16 For the ^aleaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are ^bdestroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an ^ahypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth ^bspeaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.	16 For the ^aleaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are ^bled of them are destroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have ^amercy on their fatherless and ^bwidows; for ^cevery one of them is a hypocrite and an ^devildoer, and every mouth speaketh ^efolly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his ^fhand is stretched out still.	16^a Isa. 1:23; TG Leadership ^b TG Trust Not in the Arm of Flesh 16^a TG Leadership ^b Isa. 1:31 17^a TG Mercy ^b TG Widows ^c Micah 7:2-3 ^d Prov. 1:16; D&C 64:16 ^e Eccl. 10:12 (1-3, 12); 2 Ne. 9:28-29; D&C 35:7 ^f 2 Ne. 28:32; Jacob 5:47; Jacob 6:4 17^a TG Hypocrisy ^b Prov. 26:25
18 ¶ For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and ^athorns, and shall kindle in the ^bthickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall ^aspare his ^bbrother.	18 For ^awickedness burneth as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forests, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the ^aland darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; ^bno man shall spare his brother.	18^a Mal. 4:1 18^a Isa. 10:17 ^b Isa. 10:34 19^a Isa. 8:22 ^b Micah 7:2-6 19^a Mosiah 9:2; JS-M 1:30 ^b Ezek. 38:21; Micah 7:2, 6
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall ^aeat every man the ^bflesh of his own arm: 21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.	20 And he ^ashall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; and he shall ^beat on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm— 21 Manasseh, ^aEphraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; they together shall be against ^bJudah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still^a. 21^a his hand is stretched out still This statement is made a number of times and some have distinguished its meaning. That is, is the Lords hand a hand of vengence and cursing or is it a hand of blessing and protecting Israel. Consider this, it is not the Lord's hand that is being tried and tested here. The Lord has always extended his hand unto his covenant people Israel. It is not the Lord that has forsaken Israel. It is Israel who forsakes the Lord. Likewise, the Lord's hand is always extend to either extend blessings upon Israel or extend cursings upon Israel and it is not the Lord who determines which. It is Israel that determines that. That is if Israel rejects the hand of the Lord and rebels against the Lord, then Isreal comes under the curse of the covenent and Israel will be punished. But if Israel accepts the hand of the Lord, then the Lord will bless Israel. The hand of the Lord is as a two edged sword with blessings on the one hand if Israel accepts the Lord and obeys his teachings, but if Israel reject the hand of the Lord then the other side of the hand or sword is to the cursing and punishing of Israel for disobeying the Lord an rejecting him. The Lord's covenant hand is always streched out to Israel and it is Israel who determines whether it is blessings or cursing that they receive at the hand of the Lord.	20^a Lev. 26:26, 29 ^b Deut. 28:53-57 20^a Hag. 1:6 ^b Jer. 19:9 21^a TG Isreal, Joseph, People of ^b TG Isreal, Judah, People of

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