A plague of briars, a promise of thorns (2 Nephi 17)



To me, 2 Nephi 17 (compare Isaiah: 7) is one of the more difficult of the Isaiah chapters.  There is a great and wonderful verse about The Savior in it, but the rest talks about cows and sheeps and arrows and prophecies of the affliction of Israel by way of thorns and briars and wars and stuff.

In the map up there, you can see where Syria and Ephraim are located.  Judah down to the south didn't like the idea of Syria being confederate (or allies) with Ephraim.  That's cool and everything, but I'm just going to write about 3 things out of this chapter:

1. The Lord shaves with a razor
2. Shearjashub
3. Mary Christmas

One

2 Nephi 17: 20

20.  In the same day shall The Lord shave with a razor that is hired.

I used to stop reading there and giggle a little bit.  As a younger dude, I thought The Lord shaving presented a funny image, but really was figurative of some different meaning that I couldn't guess.  Later on I finished the verse.  You should always finish reading the instructions before you start your bird house.  Can't tell you how many times I've put a bookshelf together backwards twice before reading the instructions.

20.  ...hired, by them beyond the river, by the king Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.

Ahhh, so that's what Isaiah means, or what I think he means:  The Lord will shave the head and beards of the men of Judah, and do it through the alliance of Ephraim and Syria (or Assyria) coming to battle against them.  I think that means that the people of Judah are going to forget their covenants.  It's all part of the scattering thing.  What do you think?  

Two

2 Nephi 17: 3

3.  Then said The Lord unto Isaiah:  Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool of the highway of the fuller's field.

That's quite a name you got there, dude.  I pronounce Shearjashub like it's spelt, but I'm sure I'm butchering it.  Anyways, Sheer-jay-shub translates as "A remnant shall return".  This is one of Isaiah's two major themes:  The scattering and gathering of Israel and the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

They probably called him Shub for short.  I don't know what they called Shub's brother, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

Three

 2 Nephi 17: 14

14.  Therefore, The Lord Himself shall give you a sign -Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Over 700 years before the birth of our Savior, Isaiah prophesied of Christ's miraculous birth, His life full of miracles, the malicious treatment he would receive at the hands of those He came to save, and His loving sacrifice for all mankind. 


Christ With Thorns, by Carl Bloch

Isaiah's references to the coming of the Son of God are scattered throughout his writings, even in places where it is not clear what Isaiah's talking about.  My favorite Isaiah chapter on the Atonement of Jesus Christ is Isaiah 53, but we'll talk about that in 3 1/2 more years when I get to Mosiah 14.

O Come, O Come Immanuel

Merry Christmas.

Peace be with you

These last records will establish the truth of the 1st (1 Nephi 13 part 2)

I love the Bible.  In the Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) we can walk where Jesus walked, hear His conversations as a half-mortal here with us on earth.  Christ was half-mortal because his mother Mary is mortal, and his Father, our Heavenly Father, is immortal and Eternal. We'll talk more about His sacrifice being an "Infinite Atonement" later in 2nd Nephi.



Merry Christmas!!!  Today is Christmas Day, the day we celebrate the birth of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  Millions of people around the world will read Luke chapter 2 from their Bible, which tells the story of His birth in Bethlehem.  My wife gave me the dvd "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for Christmas this morning.  Contained therein is one of the greatest orations ever done of the famous Luke 2 Nativity verses when Linus tells Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about.  I have no idea how to put videos on my blog, so you can go to my friend Middle-aged Mormon Man's blog and see it there.  He's smarter than me :)

Having said that, I must tell you that the Bible is not without its faults.  I met lots of people in Kentucky who would punch me in the throat if they heard me say that.  But, it's true; Parts of it were lost, parts of it were intentionally left out, parts of it were translated incorrectly, etc.  1 Nephi chapter 13 talks about the coming forth of the Bible, the precious truths which were left out of it, and of The Lord's wisdom in bringing forth another record (the BOM) to clarify His gospel. 

1 Nephi 13: 20-23

20.  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them.
21.  And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?
22.  And I said unto him: I know not.
23.  And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: the book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of The Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of The Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.

Note:  The record carried by the Gentiles (the Bible in it's entirety) is not as large of a record as the Brass Plates Lehi's family carried with them, which only contains the 5 books of Moses and writings of the prophets from Moses up through 600 B.C. 

1 Nephi 13: 24 & 26-27

24.  And the angel of The Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book poceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceedeth forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fullness of the gospel of The Lord.
26.  And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of The Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of The Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of The Lord have they taken away.
27.  And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of The Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

Don't worry.  The Lord knows everything, and there is not anything, save He knows it.  He saw these things coming from a mile away.

1 Nephi 13: 35-36

35.  For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of The Lamb.
36.  And in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation.

In my words:

After the death, resurrection and ascension of The Savior, and the subsequent deaths of the apostles, many of the truths that Christ brought were lost.  Christianity remained a huge part of the development of civilization, and they did amazingly well with what they had, but the missing truths affected them for generations, splintering them into different Christian sects representing vastly differing interpretations of the doctrines of Christ's gospel.  The Lord's answer to this was to bring forth the Book of Mormon, translated by the gift and power of God.  The BOM and Bible work together in enlightening our understanding of Heaven's truths.  A person's study of either of these inspired books will be greatly enhanced by a study of its counterpart.
 

In the words of the BOM:

1 Nephi 13: 40

40.  And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of The Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that The Lamb of God is The Son of the Eternal Father, and The Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto Him, or they cannot be saved.

In the words of the Old Testament:

Ezekiel 37: 16-27
16.  Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17.  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

In the words of Geometry:

With one source of Heaven's truth represented here by a single point, an infinite number of lines (or interpretations) can pass through it.

With 2 or more sources of Heaven's truth, only one line (interpretation) can pass through both.

I'm grateful for the Bible.  I'm grateful for The Book of Mormon.  I'm grateful for both of these groovy books of scripture, and the testimonies of the Son of God they bear. 

Merry Christmas.  Peace be with you...

Is it better to give or receive (Christmas Post)


My friend Jocelyn Christensen has invited me to do a blog post about "Christmas in the Book of Mormon" to add to her Book of Mormon Blog Hop.  I'm only on 1st Nephi in my BOM series, but I thought it might be OK to interrupt my usual programming to bring you the following attempt at doing so...

When I was 5 years old on a Christmas Eve night I promised myself and God that I would say Happy Birthday to Jesus in the morning BEFORE I opened any presents.  On Christmas morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I rushed out to the living room to see what Santa brought for me.  I had a nice pile of stuff, one being a huge present wrapped in paper with Santas all over it.  My good presents were nearly always wrapped in Santa wrapping paper.  You can ask my wife about my obsession with Santas on my wrapping paper that continues today.

If it was wrapped in Santas, you knew it was good

So I had that paper torn 1/2 off before I remembered my promise.  I stopped what I was doing, bowed my head, closed my eyes, and said, "Oh yeah, Happy Birthday, Jesus," and then opened my new Tonka fire truck.  Considering that I only have maybe 3 memories of being that young, I think it's significant that this is one of them.  Cuz, ya see, my folks didn't take me to church, we didn't have family prayer, I'd never had the scriptures read to me.  My Mom had told me that we celebrate Christmas because it was Jesus' birthday, and that was good enough for me.  So, what I was really doing is declaring my faith in The Savior, and my acceptance of His role in my life, and, even though it would be years and years before I started to go to church on my own, that knowledge has never left me.






Ain't she a beauty.  I used to race down the sidewalk, pushing my firetruck in front of me, bellowing the best and loudest siren you ever heard, and alternately blinking my eyes to simulate the flashing lights.  I had that fire truck for many years.  Mom and Dad really got their money's worth out of this gift.  The gift of knowing that Christmas was a celebration of Christ's birthday lasted much longer.  They really got their money's worth out of that gift too.

Oh yes, The Book of Mormon, right.  Sorry, got carried away with my fire truck.

Five years before the birth of The Savior, the prophet Samuel stood on a city wall and preached a powerful sermon on the coming of The Son of God.  Many believed him and went to seek out a priesthood holder to baptize them.  Others were angry at Samuel, and tried to chuck rocks at him.  They couldn't hit him.  They tried to shoot arrows at him.  They couldn't hit him.  Seeing this miracle, many more believed in Samuel's words and were converted.  However, the sinful and violent non-believers remained in power. 

Here's Samuel's prophecy of Christ's birth:

Helaman 14: 3-8

3.  And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of His coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

4.  Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.

5.  And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

6.  And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.

7.  And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the earth.

8.  And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.

Mexico/ Central America is 8 hours behind Jerusalem time, so when it gets night time in Zarahemla, about 7:04pm, and they notice it doesn't get dark, it would have been 3:04am in Jerusalem.  This may be the time that Joseph and Mary feel the birth process begin and are desperately searching for a place for Mary to lie down.  It also may be the time that the angel appeared to the shepherds proclaiming the good tidings of great joy.  That is pure speculation on my part, and is completely irrelevant to anything, but I like thinking about stuff like that for some reason. 

Five years later the righteous people of the BOM waited very anxiously for the sign to be given, while the wicked waited anxiously for the sign not to be given.

3 Nephi 1: 8

8.  But behold, they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been in vain.

9.  Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet.

anx·ious/ˈaNG(k)SHəs/

Adjective:

Experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. (of a period of time or situation) Causing or characterized by worry or nervousness.

"That they might know that their faith had not been in vain."  Have you ever had a doubt about your faith and thought that meant you must not have any?  It doesn't.  Even Nephi (the current prophet Nephi of this time) was worried.

3 Nephi 1: 12-15 and 17 and 21

12.  And it came to pass that he [Nephi] cried mightily unto The Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

13.  Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

14.  Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son -of the father because of me, and the Son because of my flesh.  And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.

15.  And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.

17.  And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.

21.  And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.

Is it better to give or to receive?
Whoever told you it is better to give must have never been given a brand new Tonka fire truck.  It is better to receive.  Well, I don't really say it's better to receive based on a fire truck or gift card to Walmart or any worldly present.  I'm talking about this gift:

John 3:16

16.  For God so loved that world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Can you imagine any amount of gift giving or righteous acts of love and charity that would do us any good if we did not receive the gift of the Son of God? 

Back to Samuel's prophecy.
Helaman 14: 15-17

15.  For behold, He surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth Him and becometh expedient that He dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of The Lord.
16.  Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death -that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of The Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.
17.  But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of The Lord.

My parents dropping me off at the MTC in 1987

Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me that, although fire trucks are cool, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  His gift of love and sacrifice is overwhelming to me, and I stand all amazed at it, but it is one that I am happy to receive.



Peace be with you, and Merry Christmas.