Isaiah 3 or 2 Nephi 13
By
Jeffrey Bushman Aug. 2017
These three
chapters (2-4) of Isaiah work together, the first two (2-3) starts with
optimism and then descends into despair, it will tell you the bad conditions
that will exist in the last days and the third chapter (4) will tell you of the
glorious conditions of that time.
Remember this is
Isaiah 3 as recorded in the Book of Mormon, open up your Bible to Isaiah 3 and
use the helps, especially the footnotes from the Bible for this chapter. It important to remember that Nephi stated in
2 Nephi 11:2,8 that Isaiah’s words can be liked to his people, which means they
can be likened to any group of the house of Israel. This is why I will focus more on Israel in
the last days than the time of Isaiah or the time of Christ.
Chapter 13
Judah and Jerusalem will be punished for their
disobedience—The Lord pleads for and judges His people—The daughters of Zion
are cursed and tormented for their worldliness—Compare Isaiah 3. About
559–545 B.C.
1 aFor behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread,
and the whole stay of water— The
Hebrew for ‘stay’ = supply and for ‘staff’ = support, they are also the male
and female form of the same root, masen and masenah showing complete loss or
destruction. It seems that Isaiah is
taking about a spiritual famine, for Christ is also our stay and staff. This condition will come about because of
apostasy. Three time periods shown in this part of the chapter: 1 Assyria
and Babylon, The time of Christ, and the Last days They rely on crops for survival so
losing the bread and water seems to mean famine. Josephus:
Women who went berserk and roasted and ate her own child. Christ is the good shepherd and has the staff
of life.
2 The amighty man, and the man of bwar (warriors), the
judge, and the prophet, and the cprudent(diviner),
and the ancient (or elder); This shows how serious
their condition is because they have lost all help from the Lord’s servants,
the prophets and the priesthood leaders. No prophets which means no direction
from the Lord. Amos 3:7
3 The captain of fifty, and the
honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer (wise man of magic arts), and the eloquent orator (skillful enchanter). They will lose all
leadership and social direction, as these leaders are
removed. Remember Daniel and his 3
friends. See 2 Kings 24:14
4 And I will give children unto them to be their princes, and
babes shall rule over them. KJV4 And I will give achildren to be their princes, and
babes shall rule over them. If they lose their leaders they will only have leaders with childish
ideas. Some scholars believe that
children may reference the gentiles who will eventually rule over Israel. They also had many kings that were very
young.
5 And the people shall be aoppressed,
every one by another, and every one by his neighbor; the child shall behave
himself bproudly
against the ancient (The youth shall storm against
the elder), and the base against the honorable. No central leadership and
people will afflict each other with the youth rejecting any adult guidance, and
the dregs of society will reject any leadership.
6 When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his
father, and shall say: Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let not this aruin
come under thy hand— KJV6 When a man shall
take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying,
Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let
this aruin be under thy hand: The clothing can have reference to his cloak that as the
oldest gives him right to rule, it is usually a robe expressing extreme
poverty, he is in charge because the father (break down of patriarchal order) is
missing from the family, so his brother comes to him
These next verses show that society will
accept about anyone to be their leaders showing the social breakdown that has
occurred, also showing that there is great hunger or famine.
7 In that day shall he swear,
saying: I will not be a healer (a binder up of
wounds, i.e. I cannot solve your problems); for in my house there is
neither bread nor clothing; make me not a ruler of the people. The brother only sees a
hard time for him if he accepts for there are no social restraints. If they had been in place he might have
enjoyed being the head of his father’s house, but only sees a loss of his goods. No healer shows there is no one to bind up
the soldier’s wounds, no military to bind up.
8 For Jerusalem is aruined,
and Judah is bfallen,
because their ctongues
and their doings have been against the Lord, to dprovoke
the eyes of his glory. The people have rejected the Lord and will suffer the consequences. These first 8 verses are chiasmus v 5 being
the main point” all are being oppressed by each other”
9 The show of their countenance (expressions)
doth witness against them, and doth declare their asin
to be even as bSodom,
and they cannot hide it. Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto
themselves! KJV9 ¶ The shew of their countenance doth witness against them;
and they declare their asin as bSodom, they hide it not. Woe
unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Their sins are like those of Sodom who afflicted Lot when he lived
among them , when they publically practiced perverted sexuality, and openly
proclaimed it was the way to be.
10 Say unto the righteous that it is awell
with them; for they shall beat
the fruit of their doings. KJV 10 Say ye to the arighteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall beat the fruit of their doings. Being righteous is the
only way to be saved.
11 Wo unto the wicked, for they shall perish; for the reward (i.e. the recompense of his deeds shall be done to him)
of their hands shall be upon them! KJV 11 Woe unto the awicked! it shall be ill with him: for bthe reward of his hands shall be given him. All will reap that which
they sow, the Lord’s judgment is upon them.
12 And my people, children are their
oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who alead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. The following verses seem
to repeat what the Lord has already spoken earlier. Women ruling may have reference to an absence
of priesthood leadership through wickedness, not that women can’t be good
rulers, but to have them lead was not in their culture. There leaders caused them to sin
13 The Lord standeth up to aplead (contend),
and standeth to judge the people. The
Lord will stand to up and defend the oppressed.
Since their own leaders won’t give righteous judgment the Lord himself
will.
14 The Lord will enter into ajudgment with the ancients(elders)
of his people and the princes (rulers or leaders)
thereof; for ye have eaten(Heb. consumed or burned)
up the bvineyard and the spoil(embessled)
of the cpoor in your houses. Their
leaders take all they can from those they should have been servants of and
steal all that the poor have. Judah’s
major sin is the abuse of the poor and weak by the rich and powerful.
15 What mean ye? Ye abeat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith
the Lord God of Hosts. They
have tried to destroy those who follow the Lord, and the poor and helpless.
LUDLOW: Isaiah simply
enumerates all of the vain women’s bodily ornaments, which the Lord will
replace with tokens of desolation and humiliation. His comments are on the excessive and vulgar
fashions of the day.
16 Moreover, the Lord saith: Because
the daughters of Zion are ahaughty (vanity), and bwalk (walking in darkness) with
stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes (carnal mind),
walking and mincing as they go (walking with short
rapid steps in an affected manner), and making a tinkling with their
feet— Follow the footnotes in the Bible (LDS version) to understand what
these verses are talking about from 16 to the end of the chapter. This verse
refers to their modesty or lack of it and their pride, and loss of the
spirit, choosing to walk in sin or darkness, with a focus on the carnal, trying
to be sensual and drawing attention to themselves by the way they walk. I will include some of the bible footnotes
for those who don’t have an LDS Bible.
17 Therefore the Lord will smite
with a ascab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the
Lord will bdiscover (Heb. expose; idiom meaning
‘put them to shame’)their secret parts. The Lord will expose them
and put them to shame for their sins.
18 In that aday
the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments, and cauls, and
round tires like the moon; KJV 18 In that day the Lord
will take away the bravery of their tinkling
ornaments about their feet, and their acauls, and their bround tires like the moon,
Caul = hairnets Round tires = ornaments shaped like a
crescent moon
19
The chains and the bracelets, and the mufflers; Muffler=veils
20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of
the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings;
21 The rings, and nose jewels;
22 The changeable suits of apparel,
and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping-pins; changeable
suits=resplendent garments, I have
always wondered if crisping pin could be a hair curler.
23 The glasses, and the fine linen,
and hoods, and the veils. Glasses=transparent garments,
The next verses could show military conquest
24 And it shall come to pass, instead of sweet smell there shall
be stink(maybe dead people); and instead of
a girdle, a rent; and instead of well set hair, abaldness;
and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; bburning
instead of cbeauty.
KJV 24 And it shall
come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there
shall be stink; and instead of a girdle aa rent;(rags) and instead of well set hair bbaldness; and instead of ca stomacher (robe) a girding of sackcloth; and
dburning (branding or a mark
of slavery) instead of ebeauty.
According to Oliver Cowdery the
following two verses were quoted by Moroni to Joseph Smith in his visit and
stated that they were soon to be fulfilled so they may be also latter days.
Messenger & Advocate April 1835, p. 110
25 Thy men shall fall by the sword
and thy mighty in the war. . It sounds like the women
may be better off than the men killed in battle. But the above conditions could come because
of war and the suffering that will go along with war and being taken as
slaves. Some have felt it is related to
the last days for some of the conditions could come from atomic weapons and the
stink from decaying bodies.
26 And her agates shall lament and bmourn; and she shall be desolate, and shall csit upon the ground. . Gates =of
Jerusalem, they will be empty or cleaned out. Before I close this chapter I thought I
would mention that many believe that the 1st verse of the next
chapter should be the final verse of this chapter, where it talks about seven
women taking hold of one man and he having 7 wives. In the next chapter I will quote a prophecy
by Wilford Woodruff that will tie these verses together.
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