Category: Isaiah

3 Nephi 12:4 & Isaiah 61:1-11 – LeGrand Baker – Temple rites for the dead

This Beatitude is a paraphrase from Isaiah 61.  

This post is in three parts. They are:
3 Nephi 12:4 & Isaiah 61:4-11 – LeGrand Baker – Sealing rites for the dead
3 Nephi 12:4 & Isaiah 61:3 – LeGrand Baker – washing, anointing, and clothing in ancient Israel
3 Nephi 12:4 – And again, blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

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3 Nephi 12:4 (& Isaiah 61:1-2) – And again, blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Isaiah 61 is deeply encoded, and, as is true elsewhere in the scriptures, the code is the ancient Israelite temple rites. If one knows the temple, then one knows the code. If not, the encoded message simply is not there. I would like to point out some of the key phrases so that it can more easily be read as a temple text by those who know how to read it that way. When one can read its code, this chapter of Isaiah becomes one of the most interesting and complete temple texts in the scriptures.

This chapter in Isaiah was very important to the Savior. He also quoted it on another occasion.

17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, [Isaiah says “to the captives”]
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. [those phrases come from Isaiah 61:1-2]
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luke 4:17-21).

In his vision of the redemption of the dead, President Joseph F. Smith also quotes from that chapter. D&C 138 is the testimony that everyone will have a full opportunity to receive the gospel before the final judgement. his report of his vision of the redemption of the dead, President Joseph F. Smith twice quoted from Isaiah 61.

30 But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.
31 And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel (D&C 138:30-31).

When he identified those who were there to welcome the Savior to paradise, he introduced the prophet Isaiah by quoting from the first verse of Isaiah 61:

42 And Isaiah, who declared by prophecy that the Redeemer was anointed to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound, were also there (D&C 138:42).

From these contexts, we may safely infer that the “prisoners” here are those in the “spirit prison” who did not receive the gospel while they lived in mortality. That also sets the stage for understanding that chapter of Isaiah as being about the salvation of the dead. This does not imply that vicarious ordinances for the dead were performed in Solomon’s temple, but only that Isaiah knew that they would be valid after the Savior’s resurrection.

There is another place in the Old Testament that discuss salvation for the dead. It is in the the last third of Psalm 22. A discussion of that psalm is found in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, the chapter called “Act 2, Scene 7: Jehovah Conquers Death and Hell. ”

There is a careful discussion of the first three verses of Isaiah 61:1-3  in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, the chapter called “The Coronation Ceremony in Isaiah 61.” The full text of the book is available on this website under “published works.” In the following paragraphs, I shall summarize the information about those verses, then give a more complete analysis of the rest of the Isaiah chapter.

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Isaiah 61:1

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

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Isaiah begins by recalling the Savior’s anointing at the Council in Heaven:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me

The “me” here is identified in D&C 138:42 as “the Redeemer.” I am aware of four accounts of the Savior’s being anointed. This one and the quote in D&C 138. Another is Peter’s testimony that when Jesus was baptized “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power” (Acts 10:37-38). The other is Psalm 45 which takes place in the council in heaven. (For a discussion thoses verses in Psalm 45 see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, “The prince does obeisance to Jehovah,” page 201 in the hardback edition and page 207 in the paperback. The full text of the paperback can be found on this website under “Published Books.”)

Since Isaiah’s statement is already in past tense, I believe he is talking about the anointing in Psalms that takes place in the council in heaven.

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to preach good tidings unto the meek

The meek are defined in Psalm 25 as those who keep their premortal covenants. In D&C 138 we learn that those to whom Jesus personally visited in the spirit world were those who made covenants in the council in heaven and kept them in this world.

36 Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh;
38 Among the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast congregation of the righteous were Father Adam, the Ancient of Days and father of all,
39 And our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God. [lists many others by name, then adds:]
55 I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.
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he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

“Bind” means the same thing in Hebrew as it does in English — to tie up. The temple word that means to tie people together is “seal.” Given the context of this verse and the entire chapter, “to seal up” is an appropriate way to understand “bind” and “bound” in this verse. D&C 138 says they already felt they were in bondage because they did not have a physical body. Now, after they are sealed to each other, that lack can be rectified.

50 For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.
51 These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life (D&C 138:50-51)

The Savior told the Nephites that their sacrifice must be a broken heart and contrite spirit. So the “brokenhearted” would be those who have performed that sacrifice. (For a discussion of a “broken heart” as a sacrifice see “3 Nephi 12:3 — LeGrand Baker — poor in spirit” on this section of the website.)

The word “sacrifice” means “to make holy.” To make one’s Self holy gives it another meaning as well. Gary A. Anderson has observed:

When the lamenter has received an assurance of divine assistance or has experienced divine deliverance, he must offer either praise or a selamim sacrifice. Just as the sacrifice is identified as means of demonstrating joy before the Lord (so Deut 12:11-12 and passim), so also for praise.   [Gary A. Anderson, A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance, The Expression of Grief and Joy in Israelite Religion (University Park, Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991), 42]

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to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

When we read this, we read “prison” as the “spirit prison,” the place where the dead wait until they have heard and accepted the gospel and its vicarious ordinances. Margaret Dee Bratcher read the Hebrew differently, and added an interesting insight to the translation. She wrote:

To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners” … Some difficulty exists in the translation of the phrase “release to the prisoners.” The Hebrew word translated “release” appears everywhere else in the Old Testament with the meaning “the opening of blind eyes.    (Bratcher,  “Salvation Achieved: Isaiah 61:1-7; 62:1-7; 65: 17-66:2.” Review & Expositor, 88, 2 [1991]: 177-87. 178.)

If this is the meaning of “comfort” as the Savior understood it, then the idea so teaching the spirits in prison and doing vicarious ordinances in their behalf is precisely consistent with the that meaning of the word.

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3 Nephi 12:4 & Isaiah 61:3 – LeGrand Baker – washing, anointing, and clothing in ancient Israel
It is important to remember that these ancient temple rites were participatory ordinances. In the drama the king represented every man and the queen every woman in the congregation. So when the king is washed, symbolically the people are washed. Also when he is anointed, clothed, crowned, and given a new name. Even though this chapter is a prophecy about a temple drama that would be performed for the dead, it is the only place in the scriptures where one finds all of the rites of the entire royal enthronement ceremony. The consecration of Aaron is almost complete, except it lacks a new name (Exodus 28-29).

(Isaiah 61:3 is more fully analyzed in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord (1st edition, pages 469-515 and 2nd edition, pages 341-372. Except for direct quotes, the present short version has almost no footnotes to identify the sources of the ideas. However, there are lots of footnotes as well as much more text in the book. It is in this website in the section called “Published Books.” It is downloadable without cost.)

Isaiah 61:3 

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

“to give unto them beauty instead of ashes”

The denotation of the Hebrew word translated as “beauty” is the beauty of a hat or turban, rather than a direct reference to the hat itself. The connotation is the glory of a crown. Some translations accept the connotation and use a words “diadem” or “crown,” rather than the more literal “beauty” as is found in the King James Version. In either case, the meaning is that the ashes were removed and then replaced by a crown. The removal of the ashes necessarily implies a ceremonial washing. The ashes would have been those of a red heifer, and the washing a ceremonial cleansing from sin.

In ancient Israel, putting a mixture of water and the ashes of a red heifer on one’s head was a formal purification rite. A red heifer was sacrificed once each year and its ashes were kept to be used in an ordinance that made a person ritually clean. In Isaiah 61 it was used in preparation for other ordinances that would follow. Instructions for the preparation and use of the ashes are given in Numbers 19:5-6.

Just as the sacred anointing oil was perfumed with a recipe that could not be legally duplicated, so there was also a sacred recipe for the ashes of the red heifer. The ashes contained “cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet” that were burned with the heifer.

Cedar is a fragrant smelling wood. Hyssop is a small bush, a branch of which was used for daubing the lintels of the Israelite homes in the first Passover (Exodus 12:22). It was also used in the ritualistic cleansing of lepers (Leviticus 14). Scarlet was “a highly prized brilliant red color obtained from female bodies of certain insects and used for dying woven fabric, cloth, and leather.”

The ashes were removed by a ceremonial washing. So, while the word “wash” does not appear here, it is a necessary part of the cleansing rites.

“the oil of joy instead of mourning”

Inasmuch as the early scenes of the drama had already shown that the king had been foreordained at the Council in Heaven, this concluding anointing was a re-affirmation of that premortal ordinance. As Borsch believed,

The ceremony is said to take place in the heavenly realms just as the royal ritual was often described as though it were taking place in heaven. Let us notice, too, that the anointing act here is not associated primarily with cleansing or healing, but rather with a rite like King David’s. It is said that the ceremony makes the pneumatic into a god as well, just like the one above. In other words he will be a royal god (Borsch, Son of Man, 184) .

Widengren added another meaning to the anointing.

The same, however, is every man who has been anointed with the oil that has been prepared, so that he has been made a participant of that which is possessed of power, even being worth the royal office or the prophet’s office or the high priest’s office. ( Widengren, “Baptism and Enthronement,” 213-14.)

The anointing has a double purpose. It is an adoption ceremony, making the king the son and therefore the legitimate earthly heir of Jehovah. That is, he could rule Israel as a representative of Jehovah. If he were not adopted as son, then he would sit on the throne as a usurper. In the same anointing the king or high priest is consecrated to that high office. (There is more about the adoption below in the discussion about the new king-name.)

“the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness”

The royal robes of the king are not described in detail in the Old Testament. However, some scholars believe that the descriptions of the High Priestly garments (Exodus 28-29) were originally descriptions of the royal robes, and the miter hat was the crown used by the king in the coronation ceremony. The implication is that the post-exilic editors who re-worked the books of Moses, allotted to the High Priest the royal garments that had once been worn by their kings. Widengren was among those who believed that all of the ceremonial clothing of the High Priest, including the breastplate which held the Urim and Thummim, was an adaptation of the earlier sacral clothing of the king.{1}

One of the best evidences that these were the garments of the king is this interesting coronation scene described in Zechariah. Joshua was not a priest but was Moses’s successor as ruler of Israel. It reads:

3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with clean change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.
6 And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying:
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by (Zechariah 3:1-10).

The coronation clothing is always described as two separate garments. The sacred clothing attributed to the Aaronic priesthood High Priests consisted of white linen undergarments and outer royal robes. The undergarments were a two part suit—a long sleeved white shirt and breeches “to cover their nakedness” (Exodus 28:42. see also Mosiah 10:5). Above that he wore a solid blue robe with a fringe of alternating golden bells and pomegranates. The pomegranates were made of blue, purple, and scarlet threads—the same colors as in the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tabernacle (Exodus 28:4-42). Around the waist was a sash, also woven in the same colors as the fringe and the veil. His breastplate was a kind of pouch or pocket in which he placed the Urim and Thummim. It was supported by shoulder straps attached  to an apron called the ephod. His crown was a miter, a flat hat made of fine linen, with a gold plate attached that was worn on his forehead. Engraved on the plate were the words “Holiness to the Lord.”

This same ritual clothing—or something very much like it—was worn by the early Christians. Paul described the sacral garments as the protective “armor of  God.” (Ephesians 6:10-18. It is also in D&C 27:15-18.)

The scriptures often speak of the clothing in terms of their meaning rather than of their physical appearance. Thus, the outer one is usually called “majesty,” representing the powers of kingship, and the other “glory,” representing the authority of priesthood (Psalm 45:3-4, Psalm 8:4-6, Job 40:9-14). God’s clothing is similar, except he also has a garment of light. (Psalm 93:1-2,  Psalm 104:1-2).

The interpretation of Figure 3 in Facsimile No. 2 in the Book of Abraham shows that the clothing given to earthly holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood is symbolic of the clothing worn by God. It reads:

Fig. 3. Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.

Here, the crown is shown as a sun disk, but if it were laid flat, rather than being shown upright, it would be a miter.

Nibley’s description of the High Priest’s garments—which, if the above quoted scholars are correct, were originally the king’s royal garments—shows their sacred nature:

The combination of the items that make up the full clothing comes from the description of the high priestly garments at the beginning of Exodus 28. Very recently in Jerusalem, a magnificent book was published based on an attempt to reconstruct the kelîm, the supellectila, the implements and equipment of the temple, and the priestly garments (fig. 17). A section at the end of the book describes them in detail. In this particular passage there is general assemblage, a listing, and then a description of what the articles are.
“Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother,” the Lord tells Moses (cf. Exodus 28:2), lokabod ultip’eret, “both for glory and for magnificence”—to give an impression, to fill one with awe. And the Lord instructed Moses to say to all the people of “thoughtful-mindedness” and intelligence “that they shall do so, and make such garments for Aaron, for holiness, and for his priesthood, to represent his priesthood to me” (cf. Exodus 28:3). “And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ‘epod [the much disputed ephod!], and the mo’il,” a “cloak, a covering, a long garment”; “a kotonet,” the “shirt”; “a tashbe,” a thing elaborately woven in a checkerboard pattern, or something similar; “a mitre,” mi .z ne -p e -t, “a turban,” “a round cap”; “and a girdle” or “sash”; “and these garments they shall make holy for Aaron, thy brother, and for his sons, to serve me in the priesthood” (Exodus 28:4). {2}

“that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified”

One is “called” by one’s name. Similarly, here to be “called” is to be given a new name. One finds the same usage in the Beatitudes: “And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (3 Nephi 12:9); and in Isaiah: “and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). A new name is a new covenantal identity. In our verse, it denotes one’s new relationship with God, much as Nibley writes, “In Egyptian initiation rites one puts off his former nature by discarding his name, after which he receives a new name.” Truman Madsen explains,

In antiquity, several ideas about names recur, among which are the following:
1. In names, especially divine names, is concentrated divine power.
2. Through ritual processes one may gain access to these names and take them upon oneself.
3. These ritual processes are often explicitly temple-related. {3}

The regal new name given to the enthroned dead in Isaiah 61 is “trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified.” The meaning of this new name is an echo of the Lord’s words to Moses, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

This new name — new identity — is a promise of eternal lives. “Trees” suggests the tree of life. “Righteousness” is zedek—correctness and propriety in performing and receiving sacred ordinances. “The planting of the Lord” implies eternal increase (trees make fruit, fruit make seeds, seeds make trees, ad infinitum). And the words “that he [God] might be glorified” proclaim that the glory of God is inseparably connected with the continuation of the family (as in Moses 1:39). The importance of the family is again emphasized at the end of chapter 61 where we find “a song of rejoicing” in celebration of the sacred marriage. It is a hymn sung by the bride and groom:

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels (Isaiah 61:10).

Psalm 2, The Ancient Israelite Royal King-name {4}

There is always a new name with a new covenant, whether in civil or ecclesiastical affairs. Some covenants in civil affairs are in the form of an oath. After an oath one becomes “sheriff,” “judge,” “senator,” or “Mr. President.” Some covenants are explicit, some are implied. When a bishop or scoutmaster accepts the call to serve, the covenant is implicit, based on an earlier, overriding covenant. He may still be Jake at work, but it is “bishop” at church. In that same way a missionary becomes “elder,” and a stake president becomes “president.”

The new name is a new identity. The person is different from the person before he received the name-title. Similarly, the long list of titles (names) of the queen of England identify her differently in different legal and ecclesiastical roles.

No coronation ceremony can be complete with the bestowal of a new name. In ancient Israel, even though the royal new-name that was given to the king during his coronation ceremony in the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama was different from the one given to the dead as is prophesied in Isaiah 61, its promises were no less far-reaching. The ancient Israelite royal new name is found in Psalm 2, which was sung at the time of the king’s anointing near the conclusion of the temple drama, In that psalm, the king’s new name is “son,” denoting that he had been adopted as a son and heir of Jehovah. {5} Psalm 2 reads:

7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me,
Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

The covenant name-title of the king of ancient Israel was “son” — the one formally bestowed on him at the time of his anointing as king. It was the epitome of his name-titles because it represented his having been adopted as a son of God. The implication was that just as the covenant between the house of David and Jehovah was eternal, so the sonship would not terminate with the king’s death. It was that name that established the eternal covenant relationships between the king and God, and by extension, between the people, the king, and God.

In all of the ceremonies and ordinances of the festival drama, the king was the main actor and represented each person in the audience, as though the play were only about that one person. That would also be true here. Because Psalm 2 represents an ordinance where each person in the audience had just been made a sacral king — not the reigning king, but a son and king in his relationship with Jehovah. Thus, inasmuch as the king had just been adopted as a “son” of God, the same was also true of all of the men in the congregation. What we find in the story of King Benjamin is applicable here. There we read:

7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters (Mosiah 5:7).

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ENDNOTES

{1} Geo Widengren, Geo. The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book (Leipzig: Otto Harrassowltz, 1950), 25.
see also:
Frederick H. Borsch, The Son of Man in Myth and History, (London: SCM, 1967), 185, 194.
Ivan Engnell, Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East ( Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967), 62-63.
Stephen D. Ricks, “The Garment of Adam in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Tradition.” InTemples of the Ancient World, edited by Donald W. Parry (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994), 705-39.
Stephrn D. Ricks and John J. Sroka. “King, Coronation, and Temple: Enthronement Ceremonies in History.” In Temples of the Ancient World, edited by Donald W. Parry. 236-71 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994), 254-57.
Geo Widengren, “King and Covenant.” Journal of Semitic Studies (2: 1, Jan. 1957), 1-32), 21.

{2} Nibley, “Sacred Vestments,” In Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present,edited by Don E. Norton (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 97-98.
The book Nibley refers to is: Moshe Levine, The Tabernacle: Its Structure and Utensils (Tel Aviv, Israel: Melechet Hamishkan), 1989.

{3} Madsen, “Putting on the Names,” in By Study and Also by Faith, 1:458.

{4} For an extended discussion of Psalm 2 and the royal new name see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, pages 499- 516, second edition, pages 360-72.

{5} Gerald Cook summed up the work of many scholars regarding the meaning of “son” in this psalm.. “The Israelite King as Son of God.” Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 73 (1961): 202-25.

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3 Nephi 12:4 & Isaiah 61:4-11 – LeGrand Baker – Sealing rites for the dead

The first two verses of Isaiah 61 are a promise to the dead that the ordinances and covenants performed in their behalf by the living will be valid. Verse 3 is an enthronement ceremony where the ordinances of washing, clothing, anointing, crowning, and giving a new name are all mentioned. The remainder of the chapter walks us through the ancient Israelite temple rites. It is deeply encoded, and I suppose that is the reason it appears to have been preserved completely intact. The code is the ancient temple rites, and if approached from that point of view, the obscurity of the code melts into a beautiful harmony.

The voice we hear at the beginning of Isaiah 61 is that of Jehovah. We know that because when Joseph F. Smith paraphrased the first verse in D&C 138:42, he wrote that “the Redeemer was anointed to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,” and the Isaiah original tells us the same thing, but in the first person, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek (Isaiah 61:1).” Therefore, it is apparent that Isaiah was speaking the words of the Savior, just as the Prophet Joseph did in many of the revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants.

After verse 3, the voice does not change, but the audience does. In verses 1-3, Jehovah is talking about a promised enthronement of sacral kings and priests among the dead. But beginning with verse 4, he is talking to the dead. So when he addresses “you” he is speaking to the dead who will hear the gospel; and when he mentions “they,” “strangers,” “sons of the alien,” “Gentiles,” and “their seed” all these are designations for the living who will act in behalf of the dead. That is made clear in verse 9 where we are told that “they” are Israel, that is, “they” are you and I.

9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.

“The seed which the Lord hath blessed” is the family of Israel who have the gospel and who will do the temple work for the dead. Now, returning to verse 4.

4 And they [the living] shall build the old wastes, they [the living] shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations [of the dead].

A “city” can be the buildings, the inhabitants, or both. There is little point in repairing the buildings “of many generations,” but if it is a reference to the people who lived in those cities, then it is an intelligible reference to family history and ordinance work for the dead. Isaiah uses the same kind of language in his prophecy about Joseph Smith and the restoration. It reads:

8 Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, O isles of the sea, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee my servant for a covenant of the people [the footnote takes us to 2 Nephi 3:11, which is a reference to the Prophet Joseph Smith], to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners [same “prisoners” as in Isaiah 61]: Go forth; to them that sit in darkness: Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places [sacred spaces].
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water [waters of life] shall he guide them.
11 And I will make all my mountains [temples] a way, and my highways shall be exalted (1 Nephi 21:8-11)

Similarly, in Isaiah 61, that great prophet uses the same imagery to identify those who will to temple work for the dead. Isaiah now tells how that will be accomplished:

5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

This is a beautiful verse but deeply encoded.

5 And strangers [the living] shall stand

One stands to make a covenant. If “stand” is a code word, then the reason the “strangers” are standing is to make a covenant in behalf of the dead. An example of standing to make covenants is this story in the Old Testament.

3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant (2 Kings 23:1-3) .

and feed your [the dead’s] flocks

“Flocks” can refer to a congregation of people as well as to sheep, just as in the 23rd Psalm.

and the sons of the alien [the living] shall be your [the dead’s] plowmen and your vinedressers.

In ancient Israel the staple crop was wheat, which is the main product of the plowmen; wheat makes bread. Vinedressers care for the vineyard; grapes make wine. So apparently the “flocks” will receive bread and wine.

6 But ye [the dead] shall be named the Priests of the Lord:

That’s reasonable. After they accept the gospel they should be given the priesthood.

men shall call you [the dead] the ministers of our God:

To minister is to bless and to teach. So after the dead receive the priesthood they are sent on missions to do just that.

ye [the dead] shall eat the riches of the Gentiles [the living], and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

If one understands “riches” and “glory” to mean the blessings of the gospel, then the meaning of this verse fits perfectly into the next one:

7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

For your shame …. and for confusion

Read “for” the same way we read it in verse 3: “in place of” or “in exchange for.”

ye shall have double … they shall possess the double

The Law of Moses required that the firstborn son be given the birthright, and in acknowledgment of that birthright “by giving him a double portion of all that [his father] hath” (Deuteronomy 21:15-17).

Therefore, a “double portion” means the same as the “birthright blessings.” In a priesthood and temple settings such as Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 40:1-2 “double” represents the birthright blessings of Abraham. (Perhaps the story of Elisha’s asking Elijah that “a double portion of thy spirit be upon me,” and then his receiving Elijah’s garment of authority is another example [2 Kings 2:8-13]).

In Isaiah 61:7 Jehovah promises: [In exchange] for your shame, ye [the dead] shall have double [the crowning birthright blessings of Abraham]; and [in place of] confusion they [the living] shall rejoice in their [double] portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double [birthright]: everlasting [eternal] joy shall be unto them (Isaiah 61:7).

The Birthright Blessings of Abraham are the covenants the Lord made with Abraham and his family. We find them in Genesis 12 and 13, and they are more fully discussed in the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. They are the covenant blessings of family, land, priesthood, gospel, and invulnerability.

FAMILY

“I will make of thee a great nation….and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Abraham 2:9-11).”
“And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered (Genesis 13:16).”

LAND

“land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession (Abraham 2:6).”
“For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever (Genesis 13:15).”

PRIESTHOOD

“shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations (Abraham 2:9).”

GOSPEL

“in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal (Abraham 2:11).”

INVULNERABILITY

“I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee (Abraham 2:11, Genesis 12:3).”

The prophet Isaiah used the codeword “double” in the same way in Isaiah 40:1-2. The verses report an event at the Council in Heaven where God (Elohim) speaks to the Council (the word ye is plural). If one reads “comfort” the same as in Isaiah 61:2-3, that is, to mean the power to transcend sorrow through the administration of the coronation ceremony, then the first two verses in Isaiah 40 take on enormous meaning. The verses read:

1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins (Isaiah 40:1-2).

The key is in the last bit: The reason why her iniquity is pardoned is because she has received from the Lord’s hand, the birthright blessings of Abraham in exchange for all her sins.

8 For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their [the living] work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them [the living].

For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering

The key to this intriguing sentence is the “burnt offering.” The Savior’s Atonement brought an end to burnt offerings. Besides that, the dead could hardly make such offerings any more—the animals where they are, are also already dead. So that eliminates a good part of what the verse might mean. For the living, there is one offering that is acceptable before the Lord. It is a broken heart and contrite spirit (3 Nephi 9:19-20). Any counterfeit of that is like robbing the Lord. The dead people are now instructed that they must make the same sacrifice as the living. (For a discussion of “a broken heart and contrite spirit” as a sacrifice see Baker and Ricks, Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord (2011 edition), 620-25.)

and I will direct their [the living’s] work in truth

This work that the Lord will direct is family history. There are innumerable individuals who have dedicated their time and resources to doing genealogical research. They can and do testify that the Lord does “direct their word in truth.”

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them [the living].

In the context of the next verse, the covenant God will make with the living is the Abrahamic Covenant summed up in a single phrase: the sealing power. It is the overarching umbrella under whose definition all of the other ordinances and covenants can comfortably fit. It is the everlasting covenant that seals together all those who inherit the celestial glory and thereby validates all over covenants.

Up to this point in the chapter Jehovah has been speaking. But now the voice changes and we hear a hymn of praise sung by the dead man who, with his bride, has been dressed and prepared for a wedding.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

The final verse is the conclusion, not only of the chapter but also of the Lord’s promise to the dead. It is a promise of the resurrection. For just as a seemingly dead seed is placed in the ground to become a living plant, so the dead body is placed in the ground to rise again an eternally living being.

11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

———————————————————-

Now, let me show you how precise this description of the ancient Israelite temple drama is: Read the entire chapter and you will almost be able to see it performed on a stage.

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations (Isaiah 61:1-11).

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1 Nephi 10:8 — LeGrand Baker — John the Baptist

Isaiah 40:3-5 — LeGrand Baker — John the Baptist

Isaiah 40:3-5
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

1 Nephi 10:8
8 Yea, even he should go forth and cry in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for there standeth one among you whom ye know not; and he is mightier than I, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. And much spake my father concerning this thing.

In addition to 1 Nephi, this reference to Isaiah 40 is found in all four of the New Testament Gospels. It is important for four reasons: 1) It identifies John as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. 2) It bears double testimony the Savior–John’s testimony, and Isaiah’s testimony of the eternal validity of John’s testimony. 3) It is evidence of John’s foreordination. 4) It is a key to understanding the second half of Isaiah.

Of those four, the first three are self explanatory, so let me talk about the fourth.

Isaiah is divided into two large sections. Much of the first is quoted in Second Nephi. The second is a review of the cosmic myth or the plan of salvation. The two parts are separated, connected probably, by the account of King Hezekiah’s being healed and then seeing the Saviour.

Because the second large section begins with the prophecy of John the Baptist, it would be appropriate to look at the context in which that prophecy appears. So here is a quick review of at Isaiah 40:

v. 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

In ancient Palestine, after one had expressed his sorrow or his repentance by putting ashes on his head and dressing in sackcloth, he would express his being comforted by washing off the ashes, anointing himself with oil, and dressing in clean garments.

In Isaiah 61, the Lord speaks of comforting the dead who were in the spirit prison ( see D&C: 138:42) by using that same sequence:

…to comfort all that mourn;

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion [make the dead a part of Zion],

to give unto them beauty for ashes [“beauty” has reference to a shining headdress or crown. Before they can be so crowned, the ashes must be washed off],

the oil of joy for mourning,

the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

that they might be called trees of righteousness [Same concept as Alma 32: trees make fruit, fruit makes seeds, seeds make trees, and on and on and on: thus the concept of eternal increase.], the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Isaiah 61:1-3)

v. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:

[Notice that what follows is given as evidence that she is pardoned: note the word “for.”]

for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

[As in Isaiah 61, “double” is a reference to the fact that the birthright son received a double portion of the inheritance, which included all of the blessings of Abraham. These birthright blessings are received “of the LORD’s hand.]

v. 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

[“Highway” = WAY is usually a reference to obedience to ordinances and covenants, but since this is written within the context of the preexistence, I would guess that here it has a specific reference to the Covenant of the Father, as in Moroni 10 and Ephesians 1.]

v. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

[Low places will become as temples and temples [mountains] will be low, as in available to everyone. There will be no counterfeits of the WAY.

v. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

[The glory of the LORD can be revealed in only sacred place, often the Holy of Holies, i.e. the throne room.]

v. 6-7 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

[…that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed….are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead. (D&C 132:7)]

v. 9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain;

[temple]

O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up,

[As in prayer. When the ancient Jews and Christians prayed, they lifted their hands toward heaven.]

be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

[If one is to see God, it must be in the temple or some other sacred space.]

v. 10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold,

[Scholars say that this is one of those typical statements about the strength and power of the sometimes vengeful God of the Old Testament. However, it seems to me that in this context it is clearly about something else.]

his reward is with him, and his work before him.

[For behold, this is my work and my glory–to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)]

v. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:

[Fruit of the tree of life]

he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom,

[embrace]

and shall gently lead those that are with young.

v. 12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span….

v. 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

v. 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth….

3 Nephi 12: 4 — LeGrand Baker — blessed are all they that mourn

3 Nephi 12: 4
4  And again, blessed [enjoying “the state of the gods”] are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted (3 Nephi 12:4).

This is a paraphrase from Isaiah 61, which is a prophecy of the Lord’s visit to the Underworld during the period between his own death and his resurrection. President Joseph F. Smith saw in vision the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy. In recording his own vision, President Smith used much of Isaiah’s language:

18  While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful (D&C 138:18; compare Isaiah 61:1).

When President Smith identified the persons who were waiting to welcome the Savior, he included:

42   Isaiah. … who declared by prophecy that the Redeemer was anointed to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound (D&C 138:42).

Knowing that, we have the key to understanding what non-LDS scholars consider to be one of the most perplexing chapters in the Old Testament. One of the things they cannot understand is why verse 3 contains the entire ancient priestly and royal coronation ceremony, then concludes with a wedding ceremony in verse 10.

Isaiah 61 appears to be a commentary on the last third of Psalm 22, which is also a prophecy that the Savior will enter the Underworld and conquer death and hell. Isaiah begins by recalling the Savior’s anointing at the Council in Heaven:

1  The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives [those in the spirit prison], and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Isaiah 61:1-2a).

In the Old Testament, that which is “acceptable” is performed in righteousness—zedek—with the proper authority, in the right place and the right way, using the right words, and dressed the right way:

and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:2b).

This second verse is the one that was paraphrased by the Savior in the Beatitudes. The Isaiah version, which is still speaking of the spirits of the dead, reads, “to comfort all that mourn.” The Savior said, “Blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (3 Nephi 12:4, Matthew 5:4), There, as in the 23^rd Psalm, comfort means to bring about the cessation of sorrow. In this context, to comfort does not mean to give someone an aspirin, a hug, and a warm blanket. It means to empower, and the empowerment causes one to be able to transcend suffering and sorrow.

From President Smith, we learn that they, the spirits of the dead, mourned because they “looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (D&C 138:50). And from Isaiah we learn that empowerment is accomplished by the ancient royal coronation rites. The third verse of Isaiah 61 reads:

3   To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion [to make the dead a part of Zion], to give unto them beauty for ashes [a ceremonial washing to remove the ashes], the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called [new name] trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3).

This new name represents two important ideas. The first is the Tree of Life, and second is the principle of eternal family. Trees make fruit, fruit make seeds, seeds make trees, ad infinitum. Thus, it continues forever. The symbolic eternal repetition of this process is what Isaiah calls “the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” The new name given to those who are “comforted” contains the blessings of eternal family, but this new name is not the only part of Isaiah’s prophecy that conveys that promise.

The symbolism in the next six verses of Isaiah chapter 61 describes the relationship between the dead and those who will do genealogical and temple work, sealing families together.

Then the last two verses of the chapter bring us back to the coronation scene. It is a sacred marriage ceremony. From the relationship between Isaiah 61 and D&C 138, we know that this wedding is also part of the temple work for the dead. In Isaiah, the bride and groom sing a hymn of thanksgiving:

10   I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels (Isaiah 61:10).

The last part of their wedding hymn is a testimony of the promised resurrection. They sing:

11   For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations (Isaiah 61:11).

The Book of Mormon lays specific emphasis on the fact that in this Beatitude the Savior is quoting Isaiah 61, for as it is given in 3 Nephi, it is a more exact quote of Isaiah than the way it is recorded in Matthew (Isaiah 61:3 and Nephi 12:4 each have the word “all,” but Matthew 5:4 does not). Thus it is apparent that the Savior’s intent when he said, “Blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” is that those few words were an encapsulation of the ordinances and blessing associated with salvation for the dead and the promise to them of the blessings of eternal family relationships.

The Coronation Ceremony in Isaiah 61

Even though the Old Testament historical books give no full account of a royal coronation ceremony, Isaiah 61 does contain all five of the most essential elements of any coronation. These rites are so fundamental to human society that they have retained their basic integrity for thousands of years. Fundamentally, the same ceremonies were used in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, medieval Europe, and modern Britain. For example, on the day of her coronation, the present Queen Elizabeth II was bathed, clothed, anointed, given a regal new name, and crowned. Then, as she sat upon her throne, she spoke to her subjects.

Even though the non-Biblical ancient and modern coronation ceremonies are remarkably alike—and remarkably like the original Israelite coronation ceremony in Isaiah 61—there are striking differences in ritual and meaning. Nibley, while discussing the first chapter of Moses, painted a vivid picture of the significance of the ultimate coronation ceremony in the context of Moses’ sode experience. He began by citing these verses from the Book of Moses:

23   And now of this thing Moses bore record; but because of wickedness it is not had among the children of men.
24   And it came to pass that when Satan had departed from the presence of Moses, that Moses lifted up his eyes unto heaven, being filled with the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and the Son;
25   And calling upon the name of God, he beheld his glory again, for it was upon him; and he heard a voice, saying: Blessed art thou, Moses, for I, the Almighty, have chosen thee, and thou shalt be made stronger than many waters; for they shall obey thy command as if thou wert God.
26   And lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days; for thou shalt deliver my people from bondage, even Israel my chosen.
27   And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the spirit of God.
28   And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore.
29   And he beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof (Moses 1:23-29).

Nibley then writes:

And now the scene changes (verses 23 and 24 read like stage directions); the lights go up, the music soars and Moses, though remaining on earth, is again invested with glory and hears the voice of God proclaiming him victor, worthy and chosen to lead God’s people “as if thou wert God” — the type and model of the ancient Year King proclaimed after his victory over death as God’s ruler on earth. He is specifically told that he shall “be made stronger than many waters” — for he has just passed through the waters of death and rebirth, de profundis; and shown himself capable and worthy of the mission which is now entrusted to him. After this royal acclamation, reminiscent of combat and coronation episodes dramatized in the earliest year rites throughout the ancient world, after the coronation, the scene again changes, as Moses and the reader view the field of labor in which the prophet is to work; he receives a thorough briefing, an intimate knowledge of the earth in its cosmic setting, its physical makeup (“every particle” of it), and everything that lives upon it.

The coronation ceremony in Isaiah 61 is less dramatic, but very significant for the people who experienced it. The Isaiah chapter is about vicarious work for the dead, but the ceremony was much the same as that used for living kings. We know that Isaiah 61 was a prophecy about salvation for the dead because its first verse is quoted in D&C 138:42. By identifying the “captives” as those in the spirit prison waiting to hear the gospel, it shows that the events described in Isaiah 61 are a prophecy, of which the events described in Section 138 are the fulfillment. The Isaiah prophecy reads:

1  The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:1-2).

Bratcher made an interesting comment about the meaning of the first verse. Her observation fits perfectly into Joseph F. Smith’s revelation that this is about the Savior’s establishing missionary work among the dead. She wrote, “‘To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners’ … Some difficulty exists in the translation of the phrase “release to the prisoners.” The Hebrew word translated “release” appears everywhere else in the Old Testament with the meaning “the opening of blind eyes.”

The Meaning of “Comfort”

In verse 2, “comfort” is an important word whose meaning is difficult for us to capture because it has changed since the King James Version was translated. In 1622, when the English word was nearer in time to its Latin origins, the first definition of “comfort” meant just exactly what the Latin said: “with strength,” to strengthen, or to empower. “Comfort” still meant that in 1787 when the American Constitution was written, and treason was defined as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.” (That did not mean it was treason to give the enemy an aspirin and a warm blanket. It meant that it is treason to empower an enemy.) The most extensive analysis of the Hebrew word is by Gary Anderson, who writes,

This verb “to comfort” (n-h-m) does not connote a simple act of emotional identification. Comfort can imply either the symbolic action of assuming the state of mourning alongside the mourner, or it can have the nuance of bringing about the cessation of mourning. In grammatical terms, the former usage reflects a processual usage of the verb, while the latter usage would be resultative.” He goes on to explain, “The latter usage, to bring about the cessation of mourning, is very common in prophetic oracles of deliverance. The famous exhortation of Isaiah 40:1, ‘Comfort, comfort, my people,’ comes to mind immediately. As Westermann noted, the term conveys ‘God’s intervention to help and restore.’”

Anderson’s definition can account for the way the English translators used the word “comfort” to mean the bestowal of authority or power—an empowerment—and it also adds substantial depth to the meaning of the 23^rd Psalm and other scriptures where “comfort” might be read as “to give consolation,” they might also be read as “to give power and authority, thus enabling one to transcend sorrow.”

The next verse, Isaiah 61:3, explains how the empowerment will happen by detailing the events of a rather standard coronation ceremony. The verse begins with the promise that the people will be made a part of Zion, then it describes the ceremony itself. (One thing to keep in mind, as we read Isaiah’s description of the ceremony, is that the word “for” does not mean “in consequence of,” but rather, it should be understood as “in exchange for,” or, as the Anchor Bible has it translated, “instead of.” For that reason we have used “instead of” in the headings below.) The words in the King James translation read:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3).

Each of those steps is as interesting as it was indispensable.

“to give unto them beauty instead of ashes

The denotation of the Hebrew word translated as “beauty” is the beauty of a hat or turban, rather than a direct reference to the hat itself. The connotation is the glory of a crown. Some translations accept the connotation and use a word for the hat, often “diadem” or “crown,” rather than the more literal “beauty” as is found in the King James Version. In either case, the meaning is that the ashes were removed and then replaced by a crown. The removal of the ashes necessarily implies a ceremonial washing. The ashes would have been those of a red heifer, and the washing a ceremonial cleansing from sin.

In ancient Israel, putting a mixture of water and the ashes of a red heifer on one’s head was a formal purification ordinance. A red heifer was sacrificed once each year and its ashes were kept to be used in an ordinance that made a person ritually clean. In Isaiah 61 it was used in preparation for other ordinances that would follow. Instructions for the preparation and use of the ashes are given in Numbers 19.

Just as the sacred anointing oil was perfumed with a recipe that could not be legally duplicated, so there was also a sacred recipe for the ashes of the red heifer. The ashes contained “cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet” that were burned with the heifer. The instructions were:

5    And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
6     And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer (Numbers 19:5-6).

Cedar is a fragrant smelling wood. Hyssop is a small bush, a branch of which was used for daubing the lintels of the Israelite homes in the first Passover (Exodus 12:22). It was also used in the ritualistic cleansing of lepers (Leviticus 14). Scarlet was “a highly prized brilliant red color obtained from female bodies of certain insects and used for dying woven fabric, cloth, and leather.”

Psalm 51 was sung in conjunction with a cleansing ordinance—the most likely and most appropriate would have been the occasion of the king’s purification that was preliminary to his being clothed and anointed as king:

1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot
out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions:
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight:
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and
be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness;
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
[that is one of the connotations of “to comfort”];
and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways;
and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
thou God of my salvation:
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips;
and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice;
else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion:
build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices
of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering:
then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar (Psalm 51:1-19).

The phrase, “purge me with hyssop” necessarily implies a cleansing with the ashes of the red heifer, for (except for leprosy) that was the only ordinance where hyssop was used as part of a ceremonial cleansing agent—that is, the ashes of the red heifer also contained hyssop.

It is important to observe that the purging he requested was not a physical cleansing but a spiritual one. Then, in verses 16 and 17, we find the words that are echoed in the Book of Mormon just before the Savior arrived:

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice;
else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Psalm 51:16-17).

When the Savior came to America, he instructed the people that there would be no more blood sacrifices, but rather they should sacrifice a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This psalm foreshadows those instructions and shows that the pre-exilic Israelites also understood that the blood sacrifices of the Law would be fulfilled, and the sacrifices required in their place would be a broken heart and contrite spirit, as in the psalm uttered by the women at the cross:

18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18).

“the oil of joy instead of mourning”

Inasmuch as the early scenes of the drama had already shown that the king had been foreordained at the Council in Heaven, this concluding anointing was a re-affirmation of that premortal ordinance. As Borsch believed, “ The ceremony is said to take place in the heavenly realms just as the royal ritual was often described as though it were taking place in heaven. Let us notice, too, that the anointing act here is not associated primarily with cleansing or healing, but rather with a rite like King David’s. It is said that the ceremony makes the pneumatic into a god as well, just like the one above. In other words he will be a royal god.”

Widengren quoted Pseudo-Clement to show that the anointing oil was symbolically a product of the Tree of Life:

This idea of an anointing with oil from the Tree of Life is found in a pregnant form in the Psalm Clementine writings, from which some quotations may be given. In the passage concerned, the author (or rather his original source) discusses the problem of the Primordial Man as Messiah. He is represented as stressing the fact that the Primordial Man is the Anointed One:

But the reason of his being called the Messiah (the Anointed One) is that, being the Son of God, he was a man, and that, because he was the first beginning, his father in the beginning anointed him with oil which was from the Tree of Life.

Primordial Man, who had received the anointing, thanks to which he had been installed in the threefold office of king, high priest, and prophet, is then paralleled with every man who has received such anointing:

The same, however, is every man who has been anointed with the oil that has been prepared, so that he has been made a participant of that which is possessed of power, even being worth the royal office or the prophet’s office or the high priest’s office.

The apocryphal Gospel of Philip, teaches the same. It reads, “But the tree of life stands in the midst of paradise. And indeed (it is) the olive-tree. From it came the chrism [anointing oil]. Through it came the resurrection.” On the nest page Philip added:

The chrism [anointing oil] is superior to baptism. For from the chrism [anointing oil] we were called “Christians,” [that is, “anointed ones”] not from the baptism. Christ also was so called because of the anointing. For the Father anointed the Son. But the Son anointed the apostles. And the apostles anointed us. He who is anointed possesses all things. He has the resurrection, the light, the cross.

Borsch mentioned other facets of the coronation ceremony that are not explicitly mentioned in the Isaiah passage, but which were very important. In the following, he wrote that the king was “initiated into heavenly secrets and given wisdom.” That initiation may have been part of what Johnson and Mowinckel understood to be an “endowment with the spirit.” It is what Nibley described in his analysis of Moses chapter one, quoted above. It was this spiritual empowerment—not just the physical ordinances—that qualified one to be king. Borsch writes,

The king is anointed. The holy garment is put on him together with the crown and other royal regalia. He is said to be radiant, to shine like the sun just as does the king-god. He is initiated into heavenly secrets and given wisdom. He is permitted to sit upon the throne, often regarded as the very throne of the god. He rules and judges; all enemies are subservient. All do him obeisance.

The New Year’s festival temple drama’s coronation ceremonies reached to both ends of linear time; beginning in the Council, then the Garden; and at the conclusion when the king became anew “a son of God.” Consequently, even though a king may have ruled for many years, at this point in the festival, after he had symbolically proven himself, and was escorted into the Temple—then he was again crowned and became again king in fact. The importance of anointing and its association with the king’s remarkable spiritual powers are described by Johnson:

The fact that the king held office as Yahweh’s agent or vice-regent is shown quite clearly in the rite of anointing which marked him out as a sacral person endowed with such special responsibility for the well-being of his people as we have already described. Accordingly the king was not merely the Messiah or the ‘anointed’; he was the Messiah of Yahweh, i.e. the man who in thus being anointed was shown to be specially commissioned by Yahweh for this high office: and, in view of the language which is used elsewhere in the Old Testament with regard to the pouring out of Yahweh’s ‘Spirit’ and the symbolic action which figures so prominently in the work of the prophets, it seems likely that the rite in question was also held to be eloquent of the superhuman power with which this sacral individual was henceforth to be activated and by which his behavior might be governed. The thought of such a special endowment of the ‘Spirit’ is certainly implied by the statement that, when David was selected for this office, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

“the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness”

Nibley translated this line a bit differently, and in doing so, he expanded its meaning by projecting its implications to the marriage ceremony that follows in verse 10. He writes:

After you put off the old garments and put on those of spiritual white, you should keep them always thus spotless white. That is not to say that you must always go around in white clothes, but rather that you should be always clothed in what is really white and glorious, that you may say with the blessed Isaiah 61:10), “Let my soul exult in the Lord, for he hath clothed me in a robe of salvation and clothing of rejoicing.” (The word here used for “clothe” is endy, to place a garment on one, and is the ultimate source of our word “endowment,” derived in the Oxford English Dictionary from both induere, to invest with a garment, and inducere, to lead into or initiate.)

The royal robes of the king are not described in detail in the Old Testament. However, some scholars believe that the descriptions of the High Priestly garments were originally descriptions of the royal robes, and the miter hat was the crown used by the king in the coronation ceremony. The implication is that the post-exilic editors who re-worked the books of Moses, allotted to the High Priest the royal garments that had once been worn by their kings. Widengren was among those who believed that all of the ceremonial clothing of the High Priest, including the breastplate which held the Urim and Thummim, was an adaptation of the earlier sacral clothing of the king.

The coronation clothing is almost always described as two separate garments (as partially discussed earlier in connection with Psalm 45). The sacred clothing attributed to the Aaronic priesthood High Priests consisted of white linen undergarments and outer royal robes. The undergarments were a two part suit—a long sleeved white shirt and breeches “to cover their nakedness” (Exodus 28:42. see also Mosiah 10:5). Above that he wore a solid blue robe with a fringe of alternating golden bells and pomegranates. The pomegranates were made of blue, purple, and scarlet threads—the same colors as in the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tabernacle (Exodus 28:4-42). Around the waist was a sash, also woven in the same colors as the fringe and the veil. His breastplate was a kind of pouch or pocket in which he placed the Urim and Thummim. It was supported by shoulder straps attached to an apron called the ephod. His crown was a miter, a flat hat made of fine linen, with a gold plate attached that was worn on his forehead. Engraved on the plate were the words “Holiness to the Lord.”

This same ritual clothing—or something very much like it—was worn by the early Christians. Paul described the sacral garments as the protective “armor of God.”

The scriptures often speak of the clothing in terms of their meaning rather than of their physical appearance. Thus, the outer one is usually called “majesty,” representing the powers of kingship, and the other “glory,” representing the authority of priesthood. For example, in Psalm 45, the king’s blessing from Elohim included the instructions to dress himself properly:

3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness;
and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible thing. (Psalm 45:3-4).

We find the same imagery in Job, only here two double sets of clothing are mentioned. (We have wondered if the reason is because, even though no woman is ever mentioned in the narrative, the second set might belong to his wife.) The Lord asks Job:

9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. …
14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee (Job 40:9-14).

Later, but in the same context, Job responds:

4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee (Job 42:4-5).

There is a fragment of an ancient text of the Book of Job that suggests the clothing is a replacement for something else that he must first “remove” (as in the Hymn of the Pearl). It reads:

Or have you an arm like God?
Or with voice like his can you thunder?
Remove now pride and haughty spirit
And with splendor, glory, and honor be clothed.

There is a similar description in Psalm 21, and it was apparently sung during a similar ceremony to the one described in Job 40:1-17. After the coronation ceremony, before the king entered God’s presence, he was dressed in clothing called “honour and majesty” (Psalm 21:5). We will discuss this psalm more fully below.

The important thing is that there are always two, and they always seem to represent royal and priestly authority, and with rare exceptions, they are always worn together. A similar idea is in the Doctrine and Covenants, where two ideas, “perfectness and peace,” are joined together as “charity:”

125   And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.
126   Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen (D&C 88:125-126).

It is significant that these sacred royal garments were patterned after those worn by Jehovah himself, as is shown in two of the psalms. One of those is Psalm 93:

1 The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty;
the Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself:
the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
2 Thy throne is established of old:
thou art from everlasting (Psalm 93:1-2).

The other is Psalm 104 where Jehovah’s royal clothing is described as honor and majesty, only there Jehovah wears an additional garment of light:

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, thou art very great;
thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment:
who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.
(Psalm 104:1-2).

The interpretation of Figure 3 in Facsimile No. 2 in the Book of Abraham shows that the clothing given to earthly holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood is symbolic of the clothing worn by God. It reads:

Fig. 3.      Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.

Nibley’s description of the High Priest’s garments—which, if the above quoted scholars are correct, were originally the king’s royal garments—emphasizes their sacred nature:

The combination of the items that make up the full clothing comes from the description of the high priestly garments at the beginning of Exodus 28. Very recently in Jerusalem, a magnificent book was published based on an attempt to reconstruct the kelîm, the supellectila, the implements and equipment of the temple, and the priestly garments (fig. 17). A section at the end of the book describes them in detail. In this particular passage there is general assemblage, a listing, and then a description of what the articles are.

Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother,” the Lord tells Moses (cf. Exodus 28:2), lokabod ultip’eret, “both for glory and for magnificence”—to give an impression, to fill one with awe. And the Lord instructed Moses to say to all the people of “thoughtful-mindedness” and intelligence “that they shall do so, and make such garments for Aaron, for holiness, and for his priesthood, to represent his priesthood to me” (cf. Exodus 28:3). “And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ‘epod [the much disputed ephod!], and the mo’il,” a “cloak, a covering, a long garment”; “a kotonet,” the “shirt”; “a tashbe,” a thing elaborately woven in a checkerboard pattern, or something similar; “a mitre,” mi .z ne -p e -t, “a turban,” “a round cap”; “and a girdle” or “sash”; “and these garments they shall make holy for Aaron, thy brother, and for his sons, to serve me in the priesthood” (Exodus 28:4).

The patriarch Levi reported that during his sode experience he was dressed in similar sacred robes. His account reads:

And there again I saw a vision as the former, after we had spent there seventy days. And I saw seven men in white raiment saying unto me: Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate of understanding, and the garment of truth, and the plate of faith, and the turban of the head, and the ephod of prophecy. And they severally carried (these things) and put (them) on me, and said unto me: From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, thou and thy seed forever. And the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to me the staff of judgment. The second washed me with pure water, and fed me with bread and wine (even) the most holy things, and clad, me with a holy and glorious robe. The third clothed me with a linen vestment like an ephod. The, fourth put round me a girdle like unto purple. The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive. The sixth placed a crown on my head. The seventh placed on my head a diadem of priesthood, and filled my hands with incense, that I might serve as priest to the Lord God. And they said to me: Levi, thy seed shall be divided into three offices, for a sign of the glory of the Lord who is to come. And the first portion shall be great; yea, greater than it shall none be. The second shall be in the priesthood. And the third shall be called by a new name, because a king shall arise in Judah, and shall establish a new priesthood, after the fashion of the Gentiles [to all the Gentiles]. And His presence is beloved, as a prophet of the Most High, of the seed of Abraham our father:

Therefore, every desirable thing in Israel shall be for thee and for thy seed,
And ye shall eat everything fair to look upon,
And the table of the Lord shall thy seed apportion.
And some of them shall be high priests, and judges, and scribes;
For by their mouth shall the holy place be guarded.,
And when I awoke, I understood that this (dream) was like the first dream.

Sacred garments are not unique to Hebrew literature. Ostler explains, “The idea of the garment is completely at home throughout the ancient world, always in connection with ordinances of initiation related to the “endowment of the Spirit.” The garment is usually mentioned in relation with other ordinances, especially the anointing.” Rubin and Kosman explain further:

This clothing assumed special attributes of its own, independent of its wearer. Wearing regal clothing added authority and a dimension of the regal. The Bible also stressed the transfer of Aaron’s priestly garments to his son Eleazar. There were also garments unique to prophets, such as Samuel’s special coat and Elijah’s distinctive mantle. The holy garments of the Bible thus help link the world above to that below. Here the garment does not function for personal territorial separation and defense of selfhood, but for linking the worlds. This special quality requires the wearer to be ritually pure. Otherwise, the garment can have a deleterious effect. The garment represents the charisma of a formal position without a direct reference to the quality of the priest wearing it. As these garments denote a formal position, their design is also formal and unalterable.

In the vision of Daniel (7:9), however, the clothing of God (the “ancient of days”) is as white snow, and is therefore not merely metaphorical. On angels being clothed, see for example, Ezek 9:2. The angels that appeared to humans were undoubtedly clothed. See for example, Judg 13:15; and regarding the “men” that appeared to Abraham, see Gen 19:1. Incidently, humans also occasionally wear metaphoric garments, as in, “I clothed myself in righteousness and it robed me; justice was my cloak and turban” (Job 29:14).

In the pseudepigraphal account of the marriage of Joseph in Egypt, his clothing is described in terms that are reminiscent of the royal Hebrew garments:

And Joseph was dressed in an exquisite white tunic, and the robe which he had thrown around him; was purple, made of linen interwoven with gold; and a golden crown (was) on his head, and around the crown were twelve chosen stones, and on top of the twelve stones were twelve golden rays. And a royal staff was in his left hand, and in his right hand he held outstretched an olive branch, and there was plenty of fruit on it, and in the fruits was a great wealth of oil.

“that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified”

One is “called” by one’s name. Similarly, here to be “called” is to be given a new name. One finds the same usage in the Beatitudes: “And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (3 Nephi 12:9); and in Isaiah: “and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). A new name is a new covenantal identity. In our verse, it denotes one’s new relationship with God, much as Nibley writes, “In Egyptian initiation rites one puts off his former nature by discarding his name, after which he receives a new name.” Truman Madsen explains,

     “In antiquity, several ideas about names recur, among which are the following:
1. In names, especially divine names, is concentrated divine power.
2. Through ritual processes one may gain access to these names and take them upon oneself.
3. These ritual processes are often explicitly temple-related.”

The regal new name given to the enthroned dead in Isaiah 61 is “trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified.” It is a promise of eternal lives. “Trees” suggests the tree of life. “Righteousness” is zedek—correctness and propriety in performing and receiving sacred ordinances. “The planting of the Lord” implies eternal increase (trees make fruit, fruit make seeds, seeds make trees, ad infinitum). And the words “that he [God] might be glorified” proclaim that the glory of God is inseparably connected with the continuation of the family (as in Moses 1:39). The importance of the family is again emphasized at the end of chapter 61 where we find “a song of rejoicing” in celebration of the sacred marriage. It is a hymn sung by the bride and groom:

10  I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels (Isaiah 61:10).

Nibley cited Assmann to give a version of the cosmic myth that concludes with a sacred marriage:

Here is how Assmann puts it: (1) The hero is cast out of his happy home, his original condition of life, against his will, but for his own good as he realizes. (2) He must go forth to undergo a series of trials and tests, (3) symbolic of overcoming death by resurrection, and so (4) return to his former home as a changed person, (5) being received back when he identifies himself in a formal testing. (6) Transfiguration and exaltation go with coronation and marriage.

For a discussion as “son” and the ancient Israelite new king-name, see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, chapter “Psalm 2, The Ancient Israelite Royal King-name.”

2 Nephi 16:1-13 (Isaiah 6) — LeGrand Baker — sode experiences

Isaiah’s description of his sode experience is unique, not because he is the only one who records it, but because his is one of the most complete in the Bible. In Isaiah’s account one finds almost all of the basic elements, so I would like to walk through his account and point out those elements. They are, a pillar of fire, being in the presence of God, or before his throne. Acknowledging the presence of cherubim and/or seraphim. Recognizing the presence of other members of the Council. Receiving an assignment which is often symbolized by an ordinance which places the words of the Lord in the mouth of the prophet.

First, though, let us look at the context in which those elements are found.

As a code word in a sacral context, the word “beginning” usually refers to a specific time, event, and place. The simplest definition for “beginning” is the one in D&C 93, “..in the beginning before the world was.” I take it that means just what it says, “before the world was.” That would be before the creation of either the spirit earth or the physical earth. But the word “before” is also important. If one says, I tried to call before I left the house, he creates a time relationship between the two events which suggests one happened almost at the same time, but immediately before the other. I take it that our “before” is used the same way. So “in the beginning before the world was.” probably means that the “beginning” immediately precedes the creation.

Perhaps our best description of the proximity of those two events is in Abraham 3 where we read of the intelligences who are organized as the noble and great spirits, met in Council, and were given assignments by God, who “stood in the midst of them [they were standing in a circle around him ] and said, these I will make my rulers.” The head of the Council of the gods, Jehovah, then said, “we will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell.” That proposition was fraught with danger, for Satan, who was a liar from the beginning (93), and apparently realized the plan was intended to bless those who were righteous and weed out those who were not, rebelled and was expelled from the Council. Thereafter the “gods” created the heavens and the earth (Abraham 3:22 to ch. 5).

That is an extremely important passage of scripture. No where else do we get the story in complete sequence. That is, no where else do we learn that the Council met, the assignments were made, the decision to create the worlds was made, then Satan rebelled and was expelled, and then the earth was created. If that simple sequence were in the Bible it would save scholars untold frustrations and speculations. They know the elements of the story, but they do not know the correct sequence of the events.

A parallel account is given in Alma 13 where the word “forward” in the first verse has the same connotation as “beginning.” [Oxford English Dictionary: Forward, first meaning: “The front part of (any thing material); the first or earliest part of (a period of time. etc.).”] Only in Alma 13 the story is different because its focus is different. Its scene also takes place at the Council, where “the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.” The difference is that while the Abraham 3 story begins at the Council and moves on to the war in heaven and the creation; the Alma 13 story begins at the Council and then leads us into an account of how those who were ordained to teach, helped prepare those who would inhabit the earth which was being created. (That’s my opinion, so take it for only what its worth.)

The Prophet Joseph also left us his own version of those events. In February, 1843, the Times and Seasons published the Prophet’s poetic version of Section 76. At first reading it just seems like Section 76 but worded differently, then one begins to notice the differences. The most striking difference is that section 76 is written in first person plural — “we.” It is an account of an experience shared by Joseph and Sidney Rigdon. But the poem is written in first person singular — “I”. It is about Joseph’s experiences and contains bits of information which elaborate on the D&C version. One could account for those differences by saying that Joseph included things in the poem which he didn’t include in the D&C. Or one might account for the expansions in the poem by asserting that they are a record of a composite of Joseph’s personal experiences, which included, but was not limited to, the vision he shared with Sidney. It appears to me that the latter option is the most probable. If it is, then what we have in this poem is an account of the Prophet Joseph’s sode experience. I will quote only a few stanzas here, but send the entire poem to Beck so he can send it out with this.

For thus saith the Lord, in the spirit of truth,
I am merciful, gracious, and good unto those
That fear me, and live for the life that’s to come:
My delight is to honour the Saints with repose,
That serve me in righteousness true to the end;
Eternal’s their glory and great their reward.
I’ll surely reveal all my myst’ries to them —
The great hidden myst’ries in my kingdom stor’d;
From the council in Kolob, to time on the earth,
And for ages to come unto them I will show
My pleasure and will, what the kingdom will do
Eternity’s wonders they truly shall know.

Here we learn something which is not known from any other source. That is, that the Council took place on Kolob. Kolob, explains Abraham, is nearest the throne of God (3:9-16). That description may be a geographic statement, or it may simply be defining Kolob as the temple of this our universal system or “age.” In either case, one of the fundamental characteristics of a sode experience is that the person has returned to the heavenly temple where he is in the proximity of God’s throne. Isaiah 6:1 is a splendid example of this. It reads,

“ In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” (The Tanakh, the official Jewish English translation, reads, “I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of His robe filled the Temple.”)

Another portion of Joseph’s poem reads,

And now after all of the proofs made of him,
By witnesses truly, by whom he was known,
This is mine, last of all, that he lives; yea, he lives!
And sits at the right hand of God on his throne.
And I heard a great voice bearing record from heav’n,
He’s the Saviour and only begotten of God;
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that career in the heavens so broad.
Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons
By the very same truths and the very same powers.

That statement ought to end all discussion about whether the decisions of the Council applied to only this earth or to the entire system, just as it ends any discussion about whether Christ is the Saviour of this world only, or of all the worlds which “career in the heavens so broad.”

Again we return to Isaiah 6:2,

2  Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.” (The Tanakh reads, “Seraphs stood in attendance on him.”)

Cherubim and seraphim are depictions of heavenly creatures who attend God at his throne, and whose characteristics are marked symbolically as having the ultimate powers known to mankind. We learn in Ezekiel 1 and D&C 77 that the wings are probably more symbolic of their ability to move than they are an actual physical description. The Cherubim in Ezekiel have four faces which look in the four cardinal directions (i.e. understanding heaven and earth in all directions) Those faces are of a lion (king of wild beasts), and ox (strongest of domestic animals), an eagle (king of the birds), and man (the intellectual among the group). These cherubim and seraphim are attendants to God on his throne. They are his messengers as well as symbols of his power, and as such, may be considered as guards of the throne. When Moses built a small prototype of God’s throne on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, he showed two Cherubim whose wings stretched over the Mercy Seat. When Solomon built a much larger version of the same throne in the holy of holies of the temple, he had two huge cherubim whose wings stretched up 16 feet and covered the seat of the throne. The Psalms often refer to God as he who sits between the cherubim.

Isaiah continues:

3   And one cried unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.
4   And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

It is likely that this statement by Isaiah is a very short version of what Isaiah experienced. There are two other ancient statements which tell the same story in much greater detail. The are quoted below. The first is from the Book of the Secrets of Enoch. The second from the Testament of Levi.

THE BOOK OF THE SECRETS OF ENOCH
And the cherubim and seraphim standing about the throne, the six-winged and many-eyed ones do not depart, standing before the Lord’s face doing his will, and cover his whole throne, singing with gentle voice before the Lord’s face: Holy, holy, holy, Lord Ruler of Sabaoth, heavens and earth are full of Thy glory.’ When I saw all these things, those men said to me: Enoch, thus far is it commanded us to journey with thee,’ and those men went away from me, and thereupon I saw them not. And I remained alone at the end of the seventh heaven and became afraid, and fell on my face and said to myself: ‘Woe is me, what has befallen me?’ And the Lord sent one of his glorious ones, the archangel Gabriel, and he said to me: ‘ Have courage, Enoch, do not fear, arise before the Lord’s face into eternity, arise, come with me,’ and I answered him, and said in myself: ‘My Lord, my soul is departed from me. from terror and trembling’ and I called to the men who led me up to this place, on them I relied, and it is with them I go before the Lord’s face. And Gabriel caught me up, as a leaf caught up by the wind, and placed me before the Lord’s face.
….
On the tenth Heaven, Aravoth, I saw the appearance of the Lord’s face, like iron made to glow in fire, and brought out, emitting sparks, and it burns. Thus I saw the Lord’s face, but the Lord’s face is ineffable, marvellous and very awful, and very, very terrible. And who am I to tell of the Lord’s unspeakable being, and of his very wonderful face? and I cannot tell the quantity of his many instructions, and various voices, the Lord’s throne very great and not made with hands, nor the quantity of those standing rout’ d him troops of cherubim and seraphim, nor their incessant singing, nor his immutable beauty, and who shall tell of the ineffable greatness of his glory?
And I fell prone and bowed down to the Lord, and the Lord with his lips said to me: ‘Have courage, Enoch, do not fear, arise and ‘stand before my face into eternity.’ And the archistratege Michael lifted me up,. and led me to before the Lord’s face. And the Lord said to his servants tempting them: ‘Let Enoch stand before my face into eternity,’ and the glorious ones bowed down to the Lord, and said: ‘Let Enoch go according to Thy word.’ And the Lord said to Michael: ‘Go and take Enoch from out his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment, and put him into the garments of My glory.’
And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appear- ance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its smell mild, shining like the sun’s ray.. and I looked at myself, and was like one of his glorious ones.
And the Lord summoned one of his archangels by name Pravuil, whose knowledge was quicker in wisdom than the other archangels, who wrote all the deeds of the Lord ; and the Lord said to Pravuil: ‘Bring out the books from my store-houses, and a reed of quick-writing, and give it to Enoch, and deliver to him the choice and comforting books out of thy hand.’….
And he was telling me all the works of heaven, earth and sea, and all the elements, their passages and goings, and the thunderings of the thunders. the sun and moon, the goings and changes of the’ stars, the seasons, years, days, and hours. the risings of the wind. the numbers of the angels, and the formation of their songs, and all human things, the tongue of every human song and life, the commandments, instructions, and sweet-voiced singings, and all things that it is fitting to learn. And Pravuil told me: ‘All the things that I have told thee, we have written. Sit and write all the souls of mankind, however many of them are born, and the places prepared for them to eternity for all souls are prepared to eternity, before the formation of the world.’ And all double thirty days and thirty nights, and I wrote out all things exactly, and wrote three hundred and sixty-six books…..
And the Lord summoned me, and said to me: Enoch, sit down on my left with Gabriel.’ And I bowed down to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to me Enoch, beloved, all thou seest, all things that are standing finished I tell to thee even before the very beginning, all that I created from non- being, and visible things from invisible. Hear, Enoch, and take in these my words, for not to My angels have I told my secret, and I have not told them their rise, nor my endless realm, nor have they understood my creating, which I tell thee to-day. For before all things were visible, I alone used to go about in the invisible things, like the sun from east to west, and from we~t to east. But even the sun has peace in itself, while I found no peace, because I was creating all things, and I conceived the thought of placing foundations, and of creating visible creation…..
I commanded in the very lowest parts, that visible things should come down from invisible, and Adoil came down very great, and I beheld him, and lo! he had a belly of great light. And I said to him: ‘Become undone, Adoil, and let the visible come out of thee.’ And he came undone, and a great light came out. And I was in the midst of the great light, and as there is born light from light, came forth a great age, and showed all creation, which I had thought to create. And I saw that it was good. And I placed for myself a throne, and took my seat on it, and said to the light: ‘Go thou up higher and fix thyself high above the throne, and be a foundation to the highest things.’ And above the light there is nothing else, and then I bent up and looked up from my throne.  (The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, 21-25, in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. II, [Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1976], 2:442-445.)

Another example is from The Testament of Levi, 5:1-3, 8:1-17

     And thereupon the angel opened to me the gates of heaven, and I saw the holy temple, and upon a throne of glory the Most High. And He said to me: Levi, I have given thee the blessings of the priesthood until I come and sojourn in the midst of Israel. (5:1-3)

     And I saw seven men in white raiment saying unto me: Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate of understanding, and the garment of truth, and the plate of faith, and the turban of the head, and the ephod of prophecy. And they severally carried (these things) and put (them) on me, and said unto me: From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, thou and thy seed for ever. And the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to me the staff of judgement. The second washed me with pure water, and fed me with bread and wine (even) the most holy things, and clad me with a holy and glorious robe. The third clothed me with a linen vestment like an ephod. The fourth put round me a girdle like unto purple. The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive [[ Elsewhere that is a royal scepter, and is a symbol of kingship. llb ]] The sixth io placed a crown on my head. The seventh placed on my head a diadem of priesthood, and filled my hands with incense, that I might serve as priest to the Lord God. And they said to me: Levi, thy seed shall be divided into three offices, for a sign of the glory of the Lord who is to come. And the first portion shall be great; yea, greater than it shall none be. The second shall be in the priesthood. And the third shall be called by a new name, because a king shall arise in Judah, and shall establish a new priesthood, after the fashion of the Gentiles [to all the Gentiles]. And His presence is beloved, as a prophet of the Most High, of the seed of Abraham our father. Therefore, every desirable thing in Israel shall be for thee and for thy seed, And ye shall eat everything fair to look upon, And the table of the food shall thy seed apportion. And some of them shall be high priests, and judges, and scribes; For by their mouth shall the holy place be guarded.” (The Testament of Levi, in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament,  2:307-309).

Now let us return to Isaiah’s account. There is a quality of homespun honesty about Isaiah which is simply loveable. Others who tell this same story, such as Daniel, Enoch, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, they tell how they fell on their faces in reverence. (They use the word ‘fear.’) But Isaiah tells us how he felt, rather than what he did:

5  Then said I: Wo is unto me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.
6  Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar;
7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged(Isaiah 6:5-7).

From the accounts of others, one would gather that Isaiah’s experience with the spot of light this was a two-part ordinance. The first part was a ceremonial cleansing of the lips. The second was the placing of the Lord’s words in Isaiah’s mouth, thus making Isaiah’s words also the words of the Lord. Other accounts which are different in detail, but apparently symbolically the same are:

Enoch in the Pearl of Great Price:

And it came to pass that I turned and went up on the mount; and as I stood upon the mount, I beheld the heaven open, and I was clothed upon with glory. And I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face to face; … And the Lord said unto me: Prophesy; and I prophesied… And the Lord said unto me: Go to this people, and say unto them … and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him.” (Moses 7:3-4, 7, 10, 13.)

Jeremiah
9   Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth, And the Lord said unto me,
10   Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations….” (Jeremiah 1:9-10)

Ezekiel:
The Lord said “And thou, son of man, be not afraid of the, neither be afraid of their words….And thou shalt speak my words unto them …. open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them (Ezekiel 2:6 to 3:4).

John
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings“ (Revelation 10:7-11).

We learn from the Prophet Joseph that John’s receiving and eating this book was “a mission, and an ordinance.” Presumably the ordinance was a reaffirmation of the mission Isaiah received in Council. The Prophet Joseph wrote,

14  Q. What are we to understand by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the 10th chapter of Revelation? A. We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things (D&C 77:14).

Lehi
and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. And he read saying….” (1 Ne. 1:11-13)

Given the above versions of the story, it is apparent that the light which touched Isaiah lips was typical in its symbolism to the finger, the books, and the scroll, and that the light which touched Isaiah’s lips was also a representation of an ordinance associated with Isaiah assigned mission.

In the next verse, Isaiah brings us to the deliberations of the Council itself. One imagines the conversation at the Council goes something like this: “In about 720 BC, we are going to have a lot of trouble with the king of Assyria and we need someone who will take care of that.”

8   Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? [ The “us” is plural. It is probably a reference to God and also to the other members of the Council who were present during these deliberations. Isaiah then volunteers for that assignment. He reports,] Then I said: Here am I; send me.
9   And he [ the Lord ] said: Go and tell this people–Hear ye indeed, but they understood not; and see ye indeed, but they perceived not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes–lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed.

Isaiah’s assignment seems to be a heavy one. Not only is he going to stand off the Assyrian army, but he is also going to have to watch as the religion of the Jewish state which he has saved turns away from Jehovah and back to Baal.

In the “Martyrdom of Isaiah” one reads how, after Isaiah’s friend king Hezekiah died, Hezekiah’s son Manasseh became king and made the national religion the worship of Baal, persecuting all who insisted of worshiping Jehovah. The story concludes,

And they seized and sawed in sunder Isaiah, the son of Amoz, with a wood-saw. And Manasseh and Balchira [priest of Baal ] and the false prophets and princes and the people and all stood looking on. And to the prophets who were with him [fellow worshipers of Jehovah] he [Isaiah ] said before he had been sawn in sunder: ‘Go ye to the region of Tyre and Sidon; for for me only hath God mingled the cup.’ And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain. (The Martyrdom of Isaiah, 3:11-14, in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 2:162.)

Given Isaiah’s assignment, and the sorrow associated with it, it is little wonder that he replied to the Lord,

11   Then said I: Lord, how long? [ That simple question: How long do I have to do this? may be the most honest and straight forward question reported in the scriptures. The Lord then explained: ] And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate;
12    And the Lord have removed men far away, for there shall be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13   But yet there shall be a tenth, and they shall return, and shall be eaten, as a teil-tree, and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

These last three verses might be read in two different ways. One way is to say that Isaiah’s assignment is to continue until the Assyrians wasted the cities of the Jews (except for Jerusalem itself). But that understanding leaves questions about whether Isaiah mission did not last longer than that.

The other way to read those three verses is to believe that the Lord told Isaiah his mission was to continue until the end of the world. If that is so, then his mission and responsibility is to work with those same wayward people — the ones who lived in Judea about 620 BC — throughout his lifetime here, then to continue after his and their deaths, into the spirit world. There they would wait until the Saviour came to institute missionary work among the dead. When that time arrived, Isaiah was among those present at that great meeting waiting for the Lord, after his death, to come and bring the keys for the salvation of the dead to the world of spirits. (Isaiah 61 and D&C 138, note v. 42). I would suppose that after that meeting in the spirit world was ended, and the Saviour had given authority to the righteous to preach to the spirits in prison, I suppose that Isaiah went back to those who had once rejected him, who were still under his stewardship, and preached the gospel to them again. That, at least, is the way I read the assignment given in the last 3 verses of Isaiah 6.

The following is a partial catalog of characteristics of the sode experience as reported by various prophets. A table of contents of this catalog is as follows:

ADAM and others, D&C 107:53-56 They saw the Lord

They understood Adams role in the Council The Lord defines Adam’s mission

ENOCH, Moses 7:2-69
Enoch is on a mountain

Enoch is clothed
Enoch saw the Lord
The Lord explains Enoch’s assignment Enoch receives the Lord’s words Enoch testifies of the Saviour

ABRAHAM, Abraham 3:22-4:1
Abraham identifies the members of the Council
God makes assignments to the members of the Council Proposal for the creation
Implementation of the Plan
Satan expelled from the Council
The Council creates the earth

MOSES’ account of the creation, Genesis 1:1-3:12

MOSES, Exodus 3:1-15 (see Moses ch. 1 also) Moses experiences the tree of life (?) Moses hears the voice of the Lord Moses’ mountain is a temple

Moses hears the voice of the Saviour
Moses’ expression of reverence
The Lord explains the reason for Moses’ assignment Moses receives the name of the Lord
Moses receives his assignment
Moses receives the Lord’s words
Moses receives symbol of priesthood powers and keys

ISAIAH, Isaiah 6:1-13
Isaiah saw the Lord upon his throne, in the temple Isaiah saw seraphims
Isaiah’s expression of reverence
Isaiah receives the Lord’s words
The Lord gives the assignment and Isaiah accepts The Lord explains Isaiah’s assignment

JEREMIAH, Jeremiah 1:1-2:37 Jeremiah saw the Lord

Jeremiah told of his call in Council Jeremiah’s expression of reverence Jeremiah receives the Lord’s words The Lord explains Jeremiah’s call

LEHI, 1 Nephi 1:6-12
Lehi sees the pillar of fire

Lehi’s reverence
Lehi visits the heavens
Lehi sees God on his throne
Lehi sees members of the Council
Lehi’s testimony of Christ
Lehi receives the words of God, and with it Lehi receives his assignment.

EZEKIEL, Ezekiel 1:1-3:24
The Lord’s hand is upon Ezekiel Ezekiel’s description of the pillar of fire Ezekiel’s description of the cherubim Ezekiel’s description of the Throne Ezekiel’s description of reverence
The Lord gives Ezekiel his assignment Ezekiel receives God’s words
Ezekiel receives his assignment

JOHN — John 1:1-14)
John testifies of the Saviour’s role in the

Council, the creation, and as the source of life.

JOHN, John 1:29-34
John testifies of the Saviour

John describes their respective places in the Council John describes his instructions

THE SAVIOUR’S INTRODUCTION TO JOHN’S TESTIMONY AS RECORDED IN D&C 93:1-17

All may have a sode experience

JOHN’S TESTIMONY, D&C 93
John saw the Saviour in Council John testifies of the Saviour

JOSEPH SMITH — Joseph Smith-History 1:15-20 Joseph saw the pillar of light

Joseph saw the Father and the Son
Joseph receives his assignment
Joseph’s expression of reverence
Joseph’s only indication of seeing the Council

as a part of the First Vision.

JOSEPH F. SMITH — D&C 138:55-56)
Joseph F. Smith “observed” the members of the Council.

ADAM AND OTHERS, in D&C 107:53-56

THEY SAW THE LORD — ” the Lord appeared unto them,”

THEY UNDERSTOOD ADAM’S ROLE IN THE COUNCIL — “and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel. [They acknowledged, perhaps because they had seen, his role as Michael at the Council. ]”

THE LORD DEFINES ADAM’S MISSION — “And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.”

ENOCH, Moses 7:2-69
ENOCH IS ON A MOUNTAIN — And it came to pass that I turned and went up on the

mount; and as I stood upon the mount, I beheld the heavens open, ENOCH IS CLOTHED — and I was clothed upon with glory;

ENOCH SAW THE LORD — And I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face to face;

THE LORD EXPLAINS ENOCH’S MISSION — and he said unto me: Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations. And the Lord said unto me: Prophesy; … And the Lord said unto me: Go to this people, and say unto them–Repent, …

ENOCH RECEIVES THE LORD’S WORDS — And so great was the faith of Enoch, that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. …

ENOCH TESTIFIES OF THE SAVIOUR — And again Enoch wept and cried unto the Lord, saying: When shall the earth rest? And Enoch beheld the Son of Man ascend up unto the Father; and he called unto the Lord, saying: Wilt thou not come again upon the earth? Forasmuch as thou art God, and I know thee, and thou hast sworn unto me, and commanded me that I should ask in the name of thine Only Begotten; thou hast made me, and given unto me a right to thy throne, and not of myself, but through thine own grace; wherefore, I ask thee if thou wilt not come again on the earth….

ABRAHAM, Abraham 3:22-4:1

ABRAHAM IDENTIFIES THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL — Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

GOD MAKES ASSIGNMENTS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL — And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

PROPOSAL FOR THE CREATION — And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same

kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN — And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

SATAN EXPELLED FROM THE COUNCIL — And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.

THE COUNCIL CREATES THE EARTH — And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.

MOSES’ ACCOUNT OF CREATION, Genesis 1:1-3:12)

In the beginning God [ elohim, the gods, that is the Council ] created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God [the Council ] said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God [ the Council ] saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. …

MOSES, Exodus 3:1-15 (See also the first chapter of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price.)

MOSES EXPERIENCES THE TREE OF LIFE (?) — And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

MOSES HEARS THE VOICE OF THE LORD — And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

MOSES’ MOUNTAIN IS A TEMPLE — And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

MOSES HEARS THE VOICE OF THE SAVIOUR — Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

MOSES’ EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE — And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

THE LORD EXPLAINS THE REASON FOR MOSES’ ASSIGNMENT — And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; …

MOSES RECEIVES THE NAME OF THE LORD — And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

MOSES RECEIVES HIS ASSIGNMENT — And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

MOSES RECEIVES WORDS FROM THE LORD — And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. [ This may not mean that Moses can’t speak well, it may only mean that Moses, who was reared and educated in the house of the Pharaoh, cannot speak the language of the slaves. ] And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

MOSES RECEIVES PRIESTHOOD POWERS AND KEYS — And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. …

ISAIAH, Isaiah 6:1-13)

ISAIAH SAW THE LORD, UPON HIS THRONE, IN THE TEMPLE — In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

ISAIAH SAW SERAPHIMS — Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that

cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

ISAIAH’S EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE — Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

ISAIAH RECEIVES THE WORDS OF GOD BY ORDINANCE — Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

THE LORD GIVES THE ASSIGNMENT AND ISAIAH ACCEPTS — Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

THE LORD EXPLAINS ISAIAH’S ASSIGNMENT — And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

JEREMIAH — Jeremiah 1:1-2:37

JEREMIAH SAW THE LORD — The words of Jeremiah … To whom the word of the LORD came…

JEREMIAH TOLD OF HIS CALL IN COUNCIL — Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

JEREMIAH’S EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE — Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

JEREMIAH RECEIVES THE LORD’S WORDS — But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

THE LORD EXPLAINS JEREMIAH’S CALL — See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to

throw down, to build, and to plant. LEHI — 1 Nephi 1:6-12

PILLAR OF FIRE — And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much;

LEHI’S REVERENCE — and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly. … being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen.

LEHI VISITS THE HEAVENS — And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open,

LEHI SEES GOD ON HIS THRONE — and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne,

LEHI SEES THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL — surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.

LEHI’S TESTIMONY OF CHRIST — 9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth;

LEHI RECEIVES THE WORDS OF GOD, AND WITH IT, HIS OWN ASSIGNMENT — and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. And he read, saying …

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EZEKIEL — Ezekiel 1:1-3:24

THE LORD’S HAND UPON EZEKIEL — The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

EZEKIEL’S DESCRIPTION OF THE PILLAR OF FIRE — And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

EZEKIEL’S DESCRIPTION OF THE CHERIBUM — Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and

they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

EZEKIEL’S DESCRIPTION OF THE THRONE — And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone:

EZEKIEL’S DESCRIPTION OF GOD ON THE THRONE — and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

EZEKIEL’S EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE — And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

THE LORD GIVES EZEKIEL HIS ASSIGNMENT — And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. … And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

EZEKIEL RECEIVES GOD’S WORDS — And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

EZEKIEL RECEIVES HIS ASSIGNMENT — And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. …

JOHN — John 1:1-14)

JOHN TESTIFIES OF THE SAVIOUR’S ROLE IN THE COUNCIL, THE CREATION, AND AS THE SOURCE OF LIFE — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. … That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

JOHN — John 1:29-34

JOHN TESTIFIES OF THE SAVIOUR — The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

JOHN DESCRIBES THEIR RESPECTIVE PLACES IN THE COUNCIL — This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

JOHN DESCRIBES HIS INSTRUCTIONS (‘HE THAT SENT ME…THE SAME SAID UNTO ME…’ ) And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

THE SAVIOUR’S INTRODUCTION TO JOHN’S TESTIMONY AS RECORDED IN D&C 93:1-17

ALL MAY HAVE A SODE EXPERIENCE — Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am; And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one— The Father because he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men. was in the world and received of my Father, and the works of him were plainly manifest.

JOHN’S TESTIMONY — And John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed.

JOHN SAW THE SAVIOUR IN COUNCIL — And he bore record, saying: I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was; Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation— The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him.

JOHN TESTIFIES OF THE SAVIOUR — And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first. And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son. And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father; And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him.

JOSEPH SMITH — Joseph Smith-History 1:15-20

JOSEPH SAW THE PILAR OF LIGHT — …just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

JOSEPH SAW THE FATHER AND THE SON — It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other–This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

JOSEPH RECEIVES HIS ASSIGNMENT — My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)–and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

JOSEPH’S EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE — When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home.

JOSEPH’ ONLY INDICATION OF SEEING THE COUNCIL AT THAT TIME — “Another personage soon appeared like unto the first: he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee. He testified also unto me that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I saw many angels in this vision.” (Dean C. Jessee, “The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” BUY Studies, Spring, 1969, p. 284.)

JOSEPH F. SMITH — D&C 138:55-56)

JOSEPH F. SMITH “OBSERVED” THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL — I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God. Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

2 Nephi 8:1-11 – LeGrand Baker – Isaiah 51

1 Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness.

“Righteousness” is a noun. It is a something, not a description of something else. “Righteous” is an adjective, therefore a description. As we have observed before, it is Zadok which is also a noun, but when used as an adjective it means priesthood and temple correctness — everything done in the right way, with the right authority, using the right words, with the right hand and arm gestures, and dressed the right way. To follow “righteousness” is to follow those who have the authority to assure priesthood and temple correctness. Perhaps the word should be capitalized as representing deity, perhaps not. Perhaps it is the mode of one’s living. In either case, it denotes the audience Isaiah is speaking to.

Verse 3 introduces me to a whole new concept, which, incidently, leads back to an old and cherished conclusion. It’s one of those why-didn’t-you-think-of-that-before? kind of new concepts. We have long since recognized “comfort” as an important code word in both Isaiah and in the Psalms. The Hebrew word translated as “comfort” means the power to transcend sorrow. Non-LDS scholars also recognize that in Isaiah 61:1-3 “comfort” represents the enthronement ritual which follows in verse 3. i.e. to wash, anoint, cloth, give a new name, and the name is symbolic of the tree of life (and, I would add, of eternal increase.)

Here, in verse 3 of Isaiah 51 which Jacob is quoting, we have an extended meaning of “comfort.” For not only will the people be comforted, but the land also. To comfort the land is to make it as Eden — that is to make it a temple, for Eden was the first temple. So in this passage to “comfort” means to make or define a land as sacred space. Then one recalls Paul’s observation that individuals are “temples;” and the idea quickly falls into place that to “comfort” people is to make them sacred space, also. Verse 3 reads,

3   For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

Now, having discovered the audience to whom Isaiah is speaking, and having discovered the mind-set from which he intends us to listen, this whole chapter becomes alive with meaning. See Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord for an explanation of these code words.

4   Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear [code word] unto me, O my nation; for a law [code word associated with kingship] shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment [code word associated with priesthood] to rest [code word] for a light [code word] for the people.

5   My righteousness [code word] is near; my salvation [code word] is gone forth, [code words associated with “path” and “walk”] and mine arm [code word] shall judge [code word associated with kingship] the people. The isles shall wait upon me, [prophecy of Christ’ s coming to America ?] and on mine arm [code word] shall they trust.

6   Lift up your eyes [code word] to the heavens, and look [code word] upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation [code word] shall be forever,[code word] and my righteousness [code words: God’ s ] shall not be abolished.

7   Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, [code words] the people in whose heart [code word] I have written my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

8   For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness [code word] shall be forever [code word] , and my salvation [code word] from generation to generation. [code words]

9   Awake, awake! [code words] Put on strength, [code word having reference to clothing] O arm of the Lord; [code words, They are usually thought to have to do with a show of strength, but maybe they are about something else.] awake [code word] as in the ancient days. [code words, sometimes refers to time of the patriarchs, sometimes all the way back to the Council ] Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? [war in heaven — we are back at the Council now]

10   Art thou not he who hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way [code word] for the ransomed [code word] to pass over? [God of Moses? could be, but the story of Moses seems not to fit just here. Instead this may refer to the creation of the Garden, and bringing that temple out of the waters of chaos.]

11   Therefore,[code word — the tie between what he just said and what he is about to say] the redeemed [major code word. The “therefore, seems to give it the same meaning as “ransomed”] of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;[code word] and everlasting [code word] joy [code word] and holiness [code word] shall be upon their heads; [code word] and they shall obtain [code word] gladness [a noun — code word] and joy [a noun — code word]; sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

The wonderful thing about code words is that they can have either a specific referent, or can be symbolic like an action, clothing, or a picture, or a performance on a stage. So neither their power nor their meaning is restricted to an explanation of mere words.

2 Nephi 7:1-11 – LeGrand Baker – Isaiah 50

As far as I can tell, a major problem with reading Isaiah is that one tries to read the obvious and can’t find it. To identify the obvious, is simply to know the matrix which holds everything in place and makes all the pieces form their mosaic. That matrix is usually thought to be the historical context in which Isaiah lived and was writing. That works sometimes, and parts of Isaiah can, actually must, be understood that way. But his place in history is often not the major context from which he is writing. Isaiah saw the Council (ch. 6). He knew the plans of the Council, and how those plans would be carried out, both in terms of the Saviour’s atonement, and in terms of the history of this world. That is the context from which he writes. It seems to me that as soon as one drops his writings into that context, they become much more easy to understand.

The problem is that unless one knows what the scriptures say about the atonement, and about the temple, and about the plan of salvation, one cannot have the foggiest idea what much of that context is. So one is not able to identify either the matrix which holds Isaiah together, or the pattern which it creates. So, as I see it, the key to understanding Isaiah is the atonement.

In this chapter, the key to understanding the atonement, is the legality of the enthronement and sealing powers of the temple. The key to understanding the temple, is to know what the scriptures say about the whole plan of salvation — both as an historical sequence from the beginning to the end — an as the “way” one can successfully “walk” that sequence.

Before we look at Isaiah 50 (2 Ne. 7) a quick review of its context may be useful. In the Book of Mormon, Isaiah 48 (1 Ne. 20) is talking about the war in heaven and the Prophet Joseph’s part in that conflict. [ The Bible’s version of that chapter was changed so it is about Cyrus. See Stephen Ricks and my commentary on First Nephi

Isaiah 49 (1 Ne. 21) is about the Prophet’s restoring temple worship, then about his role in the beginnings of the gathering of Israel. Those were both quoted by Nephi. Now we have Nephi assigning Jacob to begin at the place where he left off and comment on further chapters of Isaiah.

In the preceding chapter (2 Ne. 6) Jacob quoted some of the last part of Isaiah where Nephi had left off, (2 Ne. 6:6-7 is Isaiah 49:22-23). Thus, Nephi’s comments on those chapters of Isaiah 48-49 are tied with Jacob’s comments on 50-52. Isaiah 50 (2 Ne. 7, the one we are doing this week) is Jehovah’s address to scattered Israel.

During Isaiah’s lifetime he had experienced the dramatic and sudden collapse of the state of Israel. The Assyrians had cut a swath of total defeat from Nineveh (their capitol) in the northern part of the fertile crescent in both directions, from Babylon in the southeast, to Egypt in the southwest. When they were finished only the little island of Jerusalem was left unconquered. They took the people of the ten defeated tribes of Israel and moved them to the northern part of their kingdom. Tradition says that after the Assyrian were themselves defeated, the exiled Israelites moved further north of their own accord. Eventually they became “lost.”

Isaiah 50 is the Lord’s lament at their scattering, and his promise that they will be restored again. It is also the Saviour’s promise, delivered in legalistic terms, that because of the atonement, they will be restored again.

There is always the temptation to read individual sections of Isaiah as though they were separate unites, rather than a part of a flow of a major idea. One may do that with this chapter and see it as a Messianic prophecy. That works well, even out of context.

This, Isaiah 50, is a beautiful chapter in isolation, if read only as a prophecy about the Saviour’s atonement, but in tandem with the next chapter, it is a powerful explanation of the significance of their temple drama, of the power of the atonement, and of the surety of the restoration; showing that the work and purposes of the Father, his Son, and the Council are indefeasible.

If one understands Isaiah 50 in the temple context in which it is written (that is, Isaiah 49 is the promise that the Prophet Joseph would restore the temple, and Isaiah 51 is overflowing with temple imagery), then it appears Isaiah 50 is not a break in the train of thought, but a natural transition between 49 and 51. If that is so, then the legalistic form of Isaiah 50 (2 Ne. 7) is the Saviour’s promise that by virtue of the atonement, and therefore by virtue of the enthronement and sealing blessings of the temple, Israel will be restored again.

In next week’s chapter, (Isaiah 51, 2 Ne. 8) Isaiah will expand this idea. He will reach into the beginnings creation to show the plans and purposes of the Council, and then move through human history until he gets to the events of Revelation 11 and beyond, in order to show that those plans have been, are being, and will yet be brought to their full fruition. Chapter 50 is an appropriate introduction to that whole panoramic view of the purposes of God.

So let’s read this chapter as a testimony of the atonement and an invitation to the Israel of our own day to participate in the blessings of the temple.

In verse one, the Lord offers three reasons why Israel may have been “cast off.”

1   Yea, for thus saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever? For thus saith the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement? (2 Nephi 7:1).

The rank of the child of a king is not determined by the rank of the father but by the rank of a mother. If the wife is a daughter of a great king, her child will inherit a great deal, one such son will inherit the throne itself. Lower ranking wives are called concubines. Their children could not inherit at all. If a king divorced a wife, it would be the same as divorcing all of her children also. In that case, her children, no matter what their mother’s rank had been, could not inherit. Here, Isaiah quotes the Lord as saying to Israel, I have not divorced your mother, therefore you are not disinherited.

1b To whom have I put thee away, or to which of my creditors have I sold you?

Yea, to whom have I sold you?

If a father got deeply in debt, he could give his children as slaves to his creditor in lieu of the

money owed. This was not a perpetual enslavement in Israel, for the Law of Moses provided for their eventual release. But if the children were sold outside of Israel then there was no such provision, and the enslavement was probably for life.

1a Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

Israel is both enslaved and disinherited, but it was not their Father’s doings. They have exchanged their freedom for their sins, and their birthright for transgressing the law.

2   Wherefore, when I came, there was no man; when I called, yea, there was none to answer. O house of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem.

“Redeem” means to ransom or to purchase. Under the law of Moses this was the obligation of the next of kin.

2b   or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make their rivers a wilderness and their fish to stink because the waters are dried up, and they die because of thirst.

Throughout the ancient world, the most powerful local or national god was the one who had control of the weather—i.e. the waters which came from the heavens. Here God asserts his authority over the sea and the rivers, both of which are recipients of the waters from heaven. But, also by his authority are there storm clouds in the heavens:

3   I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
4   The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season unto thee, O house of Israel. When ye are weary he waketh morning by morning. He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned.
5   The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
6   I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
7   For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8   And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth.
9   For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up.

The Tanakh, the official Jewish translation of the Old Testament, renders verses 5-9 very beautifully:

The Lord God opened my ears, And I did not disobey,

I did not run away,
I offered my back to the floggers,
And my cheeks to those who tore out my hair. I did not hide my face
From insult and spittle.
But the Lord God will help me–
Therefore I feel no disgrace;
Therefore I have set my face like flint;
And I know I shall not be shamed.
My Vindicator is at hand–
Who dares contend with me?
Let us stand up together! [footnote: i.e., asopponents in court.]
Who would be my opponent?
Let him approach me!
Lo, the Lord God will help me–
Who can get a verdict against me?
They shall all wear out like a garment,
The moth shall consume them.

That translation emphasizes the legal aspect of the atonement with which the chapter began when the Lord asked, “Where is the bill of divorcement? What is the evidence that you are a slave?”

The next verses are a reference to the Lord as the tree of light, i.e. the tree of life which is represented in the temple as the candlestick (actually a lamp stand), the Menorah, which is the tree of light. It is the same concept as is in Alma 32 where the tree of life is described as a tree of light (v.35: “after ye have tasted this light….”).

10   Who is among you that feareth respects, honors the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?

The answer, which is not given, is: There are none who fear the Lord who walk in darkness without light.

The final verse in this chapter is addressed to those who do not fear the Lord, but presume to be their own source of light.

11   Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand–ye shall lie down in sorrow (2 Nephi 7:1-11).