The Jews and Jerusalem
[Two Types of Prophecy]
[Nephi Glories in Plainness]
311 We have come to those chapters where he talks about Isaiah. We are not going to read all the Isaiah chapters. They take up a good deal of the book of 2 Nephi. He gives his explanation in chapter 25, and that’s what interests us. Let’s start at chapter 25 where he gives his explanation of Isaiah which is very important for understanding these things. “Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand.” Isaiah himself often mentions the fact that the people ask him to speak smooth things. They want to hear smooth things. I am not going to teach you smooth things, he says. If I just gave you the smooth things you want, you wouldn’t need them [paraphrased]. If the scriptures told us only what we wanted to hear, of course we wouldn’t need them.
311 You notice it all changed under the rabbis; the interpretations became different. Isaiah is much too literal [for them], etc. Then, of course, they accepted the University abstractions and became more philosophical and intellectual in the interpretation of everything. That happened after the fall of the temple. But the temple hadn’t fallen in Lehi’s day. He said that it was hard for many of his people to understand, and he is talking about his own people now. They had an even harder time because they didn’t know “the manner of prophesying among the Jews.” Now, prophecy is a special idiom. There are various ways [of prophesying] that he is going to tell us about. He [Isaiah] has the special type; he does not follow the established lines of prophecy which have to do with chants and incantations. They had to have a special meter and be pronounced in a certain rhythm, depending on where you find it. That’s what the oracle is. Like the Norns, where their oracle is, they speak in RUNES; they speak in rhymes. When you are inspired, you are swept away. This was supposed to be a sign of inspiration to speak in that inspiration language.
312,313 2 Nephi 25:3 “I write that they may know the judgments of God, that they come upon all nations, according to the word which he hath spoken.” This is a prophetic section we are going into. He is going to prophesy what is going to happen—not only up to the time when the Book of Mormon is revealed, but thereafter. So we can check on that part. Verse 4: “For because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy. But I give unto you a prophecy, according to the spirit which is in me; [notice this] wherefore I shall prophesy according to the plainness which hath been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father.” He doesn’t use rhymes and that manner.
313 2 Nephi 25:4,5 You notice Nephi says, “I shall prophesy according to ... plainness.... Yea, and my soul delighteth in the words of Isaiah.... I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets, and there is none other people that understand [them—only the Jews understand that particular idiom that they talk in].... But behold, I, Nephi, have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews [the Jews had strayed; they left just before Jerusalem was destroyed]; but behold, I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore I know concerning the regions round about.” (See, he has the cultural background; he knows the setting and how they do it.)
314 2 Nephi 25:7 He is talking to his audience now in verse 7: “But behold, I proceed with mine own prophecy, according to my plainness.... Wherefore, they are of worth unto the children of men, and he that supposeth that they are not, unto them will I speak particularly, and confine the words unto mine own people [if you say these prophecies are not important, I’m speaking to you, he says, and I’m speaking to my own people]; for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days.” In the last days they shall understand them. Wo to the generation that does understand them because it will be the last days.
314,315 2 Nephi 25:9-17 Now, here comes a very important passage. He is talking about Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon has a lot to say about Jerusalem as the central city that gets destroyed and then is rebuilt again. Verse 9: “And as one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities [destruction doesn’t mean wiped out to the last man; it means DESTRUO—destructured, broken, shattered, scattered, etc.] and never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord [they were warned and they paid no attention, of course]. Wherefore, it hath been told them concerning the destruction which should come upon them, immediately after my father left Jerusalem [587 is the date given to it now; the date was moved around a lot, but that’s where it has finally settled—just 13 years after they left Jerusalem. It was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar in 597, and then he went back again. He had put Zedekiah on the throne, and Zedekiah tried a revolution. Then back he came and really destroyed it the second time]; nevertheless, they hardened their hearts [and wouldn’t listen]; and according to my prophecy they have been destroyed ... [but] they shall return again ... [this is the situation when they return:] they shall have wars, and rumors of wars [boy, have they had that, and do they have it].” Then it says they will crucify the Lord. This is talking about the wars at the time of the Romans and between them, after the Old Testament times, second temple. Then it tells about the Lord after he has risen from the dead and manifested himself unto his people, “unto as many as will believe on his name.” That’s an important limitation, as we will see. Verse 15: “Wherefore, the Jews shall be scattered among all nations [well, this had all happened; anybody could know that in Joseph Smith’s day, but now it goes on and tells us a few things]. ... And after they have been scattered, and the Lord God hath scourged them by other nations ... until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind ... [he talks about the atonement here—then]. And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state. Wherefore, he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men [the reestablishing of Jerusalem].