Engaging Gospel Doctrine (Episode 182)

Lesson 09

“My Soul Delighteth in the Words of Isaiah”

Hook / Nephi’s soul delights in the words of Isaiah, but most of ours don’t.
Manual Goal / To inspire class members to read the prophecies of Isaiah and to help them understand how these prophecies apply in their lives.
EGD Goal / To help class members figure out what the heck to do with the Isaiah chapters.

""Gone are the days when a student asks an honest question and teacher responded, 'don't worry about it.' Gone are the days when a student raised a sincere concern, and a teacher bore his or her testimony as a response intended to avoid the issue.. . .few students came in contact with alternative interpretations. Mostly our young people lived a sheltered life. Our curriculum at that time, though well-meaning, did not prepare students for today, a day when students have instant access to virtually everything about the Church, from every possible point of view." Elder Ballard

  1. Sunday School
  2. Framing
  3. Two Minute Take-Home
  4. How to read the Isaiah chapters?
  5. How to read scripture?
  6. Pride and humility
  7. Destruction and restoration
  8. Reading Commentary (more than usual!)
  9. Lesson
  10. Approaches to the Isaiah chapters
  11. Personal application, devotional
  12. “dual fulfillment” (or more)
  13. Historical (BoM context, Bible context)
  14. Theme of Isaiah: the high and the low
  15. Modesty!
  16. A second time to redeem: restoration in our own relationships
  17. Conclusion
  18. Reading in full (also more than usual!)
  19. Scripture Study
  20. Introduction to Isaiah (Jewish Study Bible)
  21. Isaiah 7:14
  22. Book Recommendation: Jewish Study Bible
  23. Study Notes
  24. Isaiah down the rabbit hole
  25. There was only one Isaiah (BH Roberts, Don Parry)
  26. The brass plates had a proto-deutero-Isaiah
  27. Nephi included similar material and God inspired Joseph to put in KJV Isaiah
  28. God inspired Joseph to include KJV Isaiah without corresponding material on the plates
  29. God inspired Joseph to include Isaiah, whether or not there were plates

I will freely admit that this Lesson intimidates me. (Isaiah is ok, but these are not particularly

For each of the passages discuss historical setting, Book of Mormon setting (including Christological), and personal application (color code these?)

I.Sunday School

  1. Framing: Validation, this really IS hard! Isaiah was written in another language in another time in another culture. It refers to historical events, uses poetic and figurative language that draws on its foreign culture.
  2. Lesson
  3. Approaches to the Isaiah chapters:
  4. Personal application, devotional (most important)
  5. “dual fulfillment” (or more than two)
  6. Historical: What do these chapters mean both in the Nephite and Biblical contexts?

Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon

Nephi lost himself in Isaiah and the drama of God’s dealings with the House of Israel in large part to console himself regarding the frustrations and disappointments of his immediate situation (family and people)

“Nephi is using these scriptural interpretations to assuage deep personal frustrations and resolve theological difficulties that he only hints at in his narrative” (p. 84).

“Nephi seems interested in Isaiah 2-14 for what those chaptesr reveal about the phenomenon of prophecy in general; he does not provide the kind of specific Christological or eschatological readings that Latter-day Saints have come to expect from modern Mormon commentaries on Isaiah” (p. 82).

  1. Textual: What do we learn by comparing (as we are urged to do) the Biblical and Book of Mormon versions?
  1. Theme of Isaiah: The high and the low: Are we sufficiently humble? Do we make decisions that are fair and care for those in need, rather than decisions that benefit us disproportionately (which it is human nature to do).
  2. Modesty! (Isaiah 3, push back against the violent, abuse language)unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one's abilities or achievements. (unassuming, humble, not prideful)
  3. Approaches to scripture (Hardy’s thoughts on Nephi’s good and bad example—yes use scripture to inspire and comfort and put your life in perspective, but don’t run away from your life either. Granted, we don’t have the large plates, where Nephi could have written a great deal about his family and people)
  4. “Setting our hands a second time to redeem” (how do we restore our relationships, give them another chance?)

II.Scripture Study

  1. Read intro from the Jewish Study Bible
  2. Read historical comments from reading
  3. “a virgin shall conceive”
  4. Book recommendation: Jewish Study Bible (if you can afford two Study Bibles; I would recommend Harper Collins first since it has both the Old and New Testaments)

III.Study Notes

  1. Isaiah down the rabbit hole
  2. There was only one Isaiah (BH Roberts’ solution, Don Parry)
  3. The brass plates had a proto-deutero Isaiah)
  4. Nephi posted similar material and God inspired Joseph to include KJV Isaiah
  5. God inspired Joseph to include KJV Isaiah even though there was not any corresponding material on the gold or brass plates
  6. God inspired Joseph to include Isaiah, even if there weren’t gold or brass plates

**Bring in larger issues of how to study the scriptures**

I have to admit that after reading these chapters through carefully, I came away with the conclusion that these chapters aren’t very inspiring. They are mostly about God punishing Israel through violence and war.

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