3 Nephi 22 doesn’t have too many differences from Isaiah 54,
but the differences it does have—in verses 4, 9, 15, and 17—are instructive.
Isaiah 54:4
Fear not;
for thou shalt not be ashamed:
neither be thou confounded;
for thou shalt not be put to shame:
for thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth,
and shalt not remember the reproach
of thy widowhood any more.
3 Nephi 22:4
Fear not,
for thou shalt not be ashamed;
neither be thou confounded,
for thou shalt not be put to shame;
for thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth,
and
shalt not remember the reproach of thy youth,
and shalt not remember the reproach
of thy widowhood any more.
The line in blue was added by Jesus when he repeated Isaiah
to the Nephites.
It is possible that translators of the Bible originally had
a text that looked like 3 Nephi 22:4, but they looked at the line “and shalt
not remember the reproach of thy youth” and said, “Hey, there are elements of
that line that occur in other lines of the verse; there’s no need for it. Let’s
just take it out.”
Below I have marked all the words with similar meaning so we
can see the pattern of ideas being constructed here.
Fear not,
for thou shalt not be ashamed;
neither be thou confounded,
for thou shalt not be put to shame;
for thou shalt forget the
shame of thy
youth,
and shalt not remember
the reproach of thy
youth,
and shalt not remember
the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Repetition like this was not meant to be boring or just to
keep scribes in business; rather it is meant to reinforce and amplify the
message. And what is the
message? Simply that the house of
Israel would forget the humiliation from the times they rejected the Lord as a
people. Israel was very young
relatively when it was carried captive to Babylon and it was still sort of
young when it was destroyed by the Romans and scattered. And imagine, all that ugly history
would be forgotten in the joy of coming to Christ at last! I really think it is true today. We have no conception of the societal
disgrace of those past apostasies and there is no collective guilt of a failed
dispensation hanging over us.
Thank heavens!
Isaiah 54:9
For this is
as the waters of Noah unto me:
for as
I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth;
so have I sworn that I would not be
wroth with thee,
nor rebuke thee.
3 Nephi 22:9
For this, the waters of Noah unto
me,
for as I have sworn that the waters
of Noah should no more go over the earth,
so have I sworn that I would not be
wroth with thee.
Notice that 3 Nephi 22:9 is missing those words “nor rebuke thee.” This teaches us that the Lord will withhold His anger as we
work through our repentance process, but He will and does rebuke us for our sins, so we should expect that. And it is a good thing too; if we
didn’t receive rebuke, how would we know we had sinned? We need our conscience and we need
outside instruction to help us see what we are doing wrong and why and what we
should do instead. And yet,
that rebuke will not be nearly as bad as the shame and reproach spoken of
previously in verse 4.
Something that seems odd about 3 Nephi 22:9 is that that
first line of the verse—For this, the waters of Noah unto me”—reads more
awkwardly than it does in Isaiah--“For this is as the waters of Noah unto
me.” The way I see it, Jesus
was quoting in the old Hebraic way that doesn’t include any state-of-being
verbs like “is, are, be, etc.” I personally find the verse makes more sense to
me when I ignore that particular part and pay more attention to the rest of the
verse. (That sounds bad, but it’s
true!)
The sense of that verse should be quite reassuring to us
because it tells us that just as the Lord promised Noah that He would never
again destroy man with a flood, the re-gathered house of Israel is promised
that they will never again be destroyed and scattered as they have been in the
past. Collectively we may be
rebuked stiffly through tribulation, persecution, and calls to repentance, but
never destroyed.
Isaiah 54:15
Behold, they shall surely gather
together,
but
not by me:
whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake.
3 Nephi 22:15
Behold, they shall surely gather
together against thee,
not by me;
whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake.
Notice that 3 Nephi 22:15 adds those words “against thee,”
which makes it doubly clear that the house of Israel will definitely have
opposition. While the house of
Israel gathers, opposition to it will gather as well, but we are assured in the
rest of the verse that the opposition will fall. As Joseph Smith noted, no unhallowed hand can stop the work
of the Lord.
Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper;
and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn.
This is
the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
3 Nephi 22:17
No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper;
and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn.
This is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord,
and their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord.
In 3 Nephi, “rise” is changed to “revile” in the phrase
“every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn.” There is a big
difference between tongues rising in
judgment against the house of Israel and tongues reviling in judgment against the house of Israel. Rising
in judgment makes me think of any opposition coming up that could be either
deserved or undeserved. However, reviling in judgment makes me think of prejudiced
and bigoted opposition. One
dictionary I used defined “revile” as “criticize in an abusive or angry
insulting manner.”
This verse shows there are negative consequences for
slandering the house of Israel and the church. I am a little unclear as to the exact meaning of “judgment”
in this verse though because there are a number of courts that could be
referred to:
1) The
court of the land. False
accusations are eventually counteracted by evidence to the contrary in a court
of law.
2) The
court of public opinion. Certainly
critical and insulting accusations of the church are all over the place,
especially on the internet, and we condemn it by spreading the truth and
defending the church.
3) The
church’s disciplinary court or bishop’s court. Criticism and insult inside the church can be addressed here
with inquiry and evidence and stopped.
4) The
Final judgment. Ultimately, all
those who have spread false and negative information about the church will
stand accountable to God.
At various times we will have to add our witness to these
various courts.
The differences between Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22 are subtle,
but very instructive. They put
into perspective some things we can expect as Israel is gathered for the last
time:
·
To forget the destruction and shame of apostasy
of previous dispensations.
·
To expect opposition to gather.
·
To expect lots of negative press (and that we
can overcome it).
·
To expect rebuke from the Lord if we make
mistakes as a church.
See also this article at Times and Seasons for more good
stuff on this chapter:
http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/10/bmgd-41-3-nephi-22-26/
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