Kings Their Nursing Fathers and Queens Their Nursing Mothers, 2 Nephi 6:6-7

-->

6 And now, these are the words: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

7 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their faces towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. (2 Nephi 6:6-7)

Here Jacob quotes Isaiah to his people in the promised land to help them rejoice for their descendants. 

Now, if you are like me, you may find yourself asking, “In what way are the Gentile kings and queens nursing fathers and mothers to the remnant of the house of Israel?”

We know of at least one way that this has been fulfilled--through the church’s program of Latter-day Saint families fostering Native American children in their homes to help them get an education.  My mother remembers a Navaho boy staying with her family as part of this.  I learned more about this program as I was reading Spencer W. Kimball’s biography, since he was deeply involved in helping Native American members of the church.  If you are curious about it, I highly recommend reading that.

Are there other ways this scripture from Isaiah has been fulfilled?  I thought there might be, so I decided to do a little research on the history of the United States government’s policies with the Native Americans and what the status of the tribes has been, surrounded as they are by the United States.   I looked at a paper called “The History of Federal Indian Policies” by Robert J. Miller, professor of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, to get an overview.

We all know the Native Americans were pushed off their land time and again by American settlers because of Americans’ desire to explore and exploit natural resources.   Some important points I discovered were the following:

·      There was always a problem with settlers encroaching on Indian lands and interfering with Indian affairs.  Even England tried to outlaw going onto Indian land during the colonial era because it recognized that the problems lay on the side of the colonists.  When America gained independence and formed the Constitutional government, an important part of the decisions they made was how it would handle Indian affairs.  It was written in that all treaties and agreements and land transactions were to be handled only at the federal level, rather than at federal, state, and individual levels because meddling at all different levels caused misunderstandings and disagreements leading to wars and conflicts, which they wanted to end.   In my view, this is a kind of fulfillment of Isaiah’s words that kings and queens would be the nursing fathers and mothers; it captures that sense that decisions concerning the remnant are made at the highest level of government, rather than lower levels.

·      The status of the Native American tribes is a very peculiar one, legally.  There were two court cases, one in 1831 and the other in 1832 that still are applied today, which established two parts about the tribes’ status that are almost paradoxical.  Firstly, the tribes are the wards of the United States, and the United States is their guardian and owes a trust and responsibility to protect them as “domestic, dependent nations” because the Native Americans rely on the United States for protection and supplies.  Second, according to the United States’ historical treatment of tribes as “distinct, independent, political communities,” the tribes had exclusive authority in their territory to govern their land, citizens, and non-Indians who visit.  (Not that this has always been honored, but it is an established precedent.)

Wild, huh? 

So, the tribes are domestic dependent nations, but they are also distinct, independent political communities with their own governments!  The responsibility the United States owes to protect and foster the tribes is captured by Isaiah’s words about how kings and queens would be nursing fathers and mothers to the American remnant of the Israel.  The legal status of the tribes as dependent coincides with that of a child to a parent or guardian.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/photo-of-the-day/?c=y&date=01/28/2013

The nursing aspect of Isaiah’s words has begun to be fulfilled at least since the 60’s when President Kennedy’s administration began to invest millions of dollars into tribal programs and infrastructure.  In 1970, President Nixon named the new Indian policy “self-determination.”  The Indian Self-Determination & Education Assistance Act of 1975 allows Indian tribes to plan, operate, and manage federally-funded tribal programs, something they were not allowed to do before.  Tribal self-government is being fostered and federal authority over the tribes is being delegated more to the tribes themselves.  Tribes are being given economic incentives to increase economic development.

Who would have thought that such a peculiar legal status could be captured by Isaiah’s words so simply? 

Now, do I think this is the final and complete meaning of Isaiah’s words?  No.  I strongly suspect that there is more to uncover, such as the treatment of native tribes in other countries in the Americas.  I am also curious about how the nation of Israel was formed in the 20^th century and what the Gentiles had to do with that. 

We need to find out how prophecy is being fulfilled.  It is being fulfilled around us, and it strengthens our faith in Heavenly Father to see how His hand is working today to fulfill the promises He made through prophets so many centuries ago.  The fulfillments did not end with Joseph Smith’s lifetime.  It might be tempting to think they did, since we focus on those prophecies pertaining to him in the Book of Mormon.  But prophecy is being fulfilled today, and we must look for it and testify of it. 

If we don’t, who will?

Persecution: what goes around, comes around

When Nephi calls the Gentiles on the carpet for their treatment of the Jews, he gives a dire prophecy from the Lord. “…you have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people.” (2 Nephi 29:5, emphasis added)

Here the law of restoration is declared in force upon all those who persecute the Jews. Those who persecute will be persecuted themselves. Thus we should not be surprised to see atheism persecuting the great and abominable church (and coming in for its own share of blowback persecution as well), extremist Muslims hating the decadence of western civilization, or western civilization coming down hard on the Middle East, where there happens to be a very strong anti-Semitism milieu. That doesn’t make any of it right, of course, but it becomes much less perplexing when we see it as a fulfillment of Nephi’s prophecy of “what-goes-around-comes-around” and take it as assurance that none of this is unexpected by God. (We get a piece of the persecution from both sides, but God strengthens His own, and as long as we turn the other cheek and forgive, we will overcome.)

Remembering the ancients’ travails

But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? (2 Nephi 29:4)

Nephi isn’t afraid to point out the rank ingratitude he’s seen in vision concerning Gentile treatment of the Jews. He saw the anti-Semitism of centuries, labels of “Christ-killer” and other dehumanizing propaganda, the accusations of plotting for world domination, the ghettos, the concentration camps, the suicide bombings, and more. (“…have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but you have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them.” (2 Nephi 29:5)) He points out that the Gentiles forget that Jews were also the ones who took the gospel to the Gentiles and who worked so hard to write the word of the Lord.

I think another application of this verse is our tendency to take for granted the efforts of the Saints in the early days of the Restoration. We fault them for failing to live the law of consecration and are we any better? It is a good thing that we tell and retell the stories of their sacrifices and persecutions and victories so that we can remember their travails and labors and pains and diligence to bring the church out of obscurity.

Yet another application of this verse is our tendency to take for granted the efforts of our faithful church teachers. Too often we speak slightingly of the teachers who read the lesson for the first time during sacrament meeting the hour before they have to teach it, and then we fail to recognize teachers who have really put a lot of work into preparation that we don’t see. The verse speaks of the teachers’ “travails,” “labors,” “pains,” and “diligence” in language evoking the difficulty and agony of women giving birth. For diligent teachers everywhere, this metaphorical language strikes a chord, and learners would do well to be aware of it.

Too often I’ve taken my teachers for granted, and it was only when I got a church calling to teach primary when I was 18 that I began to appreciate all the great teachers I had. I remember Brother Kuntzelman, who taught me in primary. (When he was released, I seriously considered indicating I was “not in favor as manifested” of the person who was called to take his place.) And Sister Imam and Sister Gallagher who were dynamite primary choristers. And Sister Ellefson, a stalwart adviser in Young Women. And Sister Kearney, with whom I had one-on-one conversations about the scriptures in our 16-18 year old Sunday school class when no one else came. And my mom, who was incredibly influential as my seminary teacher all through high school. And Brother Mortensen, one of my institute teachers, who would blithely fling his tie over his shoulder as a signal to batten down the hatches in preparation for a breeze of speculation forthcoming so that we would know not to take those things as seriously as the other things he was teaching us. And Brother Victor Ludlow who opened my eyes to the meaning of Isaiah. And David R. Seely who taught the Old Testament. And Richard Draper, who opened my eyes to the Book of Revelation and helped me parse Paul better. And Brother Merrill who assigned me to read the first half of the Book of Mormon in two weeks. It would take a long time to name all the good teachers I’ve had in the church. And behind each lesson is so much labor.

How about you? Will you tell me about some of the great teachers you’ve known? What stories of the early Saints have impacted you the most? And what stories of the ancient Jews help you remember and appreciate their travails?