Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. (1 Nephi 21:16)
Here Nephi quotes Isaiah, who speaks as if from Christ’s
perspective.
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands – This imagery
makes me think of Christ’s crucifixion and the suffering He went through for
us. It is as if we were the nails
that pierced Him, and every time He looks at the marks in of the hands of His
resurrected body, He remembers the sacrifice He made for us.
thy walls are continually before me – In one way, this can
be interpreted to mean that Jesus is always watching over us, caring for us,
and thinking of us. In another
way, it expresses how He knows the walls we have put up in our lives to try to
keep Him out, and He wishes He could get through to us if we would only let
Him.
3 comments:
I always love the dual nature of Isaiah. Thanks for this post. :)
I think of the walls in terms of when our life ends and begins. He knows where we will go, what choices we will make, etc.
I have heard it explained that custom of the people at Isaiah's time wrote contracts on clay spikes. The spikes then were fired to be hardened (sealed) and then hammered into the wall to be a constant reminder of the contract. Christ has a covenant with each of us which was sealed by spikes driven through his palms into the "wall" of the cross. He does not forget the covenant that offers salvation to each of us.
Post a Comment