“The Prophet Isaiah”

Alan C. Miner

According to Cleon Skousen, it should be kept in mind that Isaiah lived just a century before the Lehi colony left Jerusalem. Isaiah was therefore one of the most impressive authorities which Lehi, Nephi or Jacob could quote to their own people in order to prove a scriptural point. . . .

Writing from around 750-696 B.C., Isaiah predicted the future of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Moab, Phoenicia and Syria. He told what would happen to the Ten Tribes of Israel, and later to the Jews and the Levites. He used one whole chapter to describe the life, death and ultimate victory of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53). He knew that Jehovah of the Old Testament was not the Father but the pre-mortal spirit of the Messiah who was to come. . . .

We know Isaiah was married and had two sons whose names were given by revelation as prophetic symbols (see Isaiah 8:3,18). The scriptures indicate that Isaiah's wife was a noble woman of deep spirituality who held the distinction of being called a "prophetess" (Isaiah 8:3).

Scripture does not tell us how long Isaiah lived, but according to Justin Martyr, writing around A.D. 150 . . . Isaiah died by being "sawed asunder with a wooden saw!" (See Dummelow's Bible Commentary, p. 409). [W. Cleon Skousen, Treasures from the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, pp. 1271-1277]

“Nephi Read Unto His People the Words of the Prophet Isaiah”

In 1 Nephi 19:23 we find the following:

. . . but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah . . .

According to Jeffrey Holland, as a testament of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon centers on the Redeemer's ministry and, to this end, uses Isaiah as a witness of Christ's past, present, and future loving and saving acts. . . . It would seem, even in Isaiah's very name, which in Hebrew means "Jehovah saves" or "the Lord is salvation," that Isaiah was prepared from birth--and of course we would say from before birth--to testify of the Messiah and bear such witness of the divinity of Christ's coming. . . .

In a helpful footnote to 2 Nephi 12:2, our current edition of the LDS scriptures notes that there are some 433 verses of Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon. According to Monte Nyman, of those 433 (or so) verses of Isaiah, some 391 of them refer to the attributes or mission of Christ. In that same vein, Donald Parry pointed out to me that Isaiah provides 61 names and titles of deity in his writings. Those names and titles are found 708 times in the whole book of Isaiah, giving us an average appearance of one every 1.9 verses. [Jeffrey R. Holland, "Isaiah's Witness of Christ's Ministry," in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, pp. 1-4]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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