2 Nephi 16 corresponds to Isaiah 6. This chapter describes Isaiah’s prophetic call, although it is not clear why this important episode does not introduce his writings. Isaiah provides a date (the year Uzziah died), then his vision of the Lord upon his throne. Such a vision, known as a throne theophany, is recorded for Micah (1 Kgs. 22:19–22), Ezekiel (1:1–3:21), Daniel (7:9–27), and John (Rev. 4). In other locations, reference is made to Yahweh’s image and the throne without the explicit mention of the vision. For example, Psalms 45:6 praises Yahweh with the same image: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” The throne connotes rule and is frequently associated with a scepter, which, like the throne, is a physical manifestation of the right of rulership. Isaiah thus sees Yahweh in his capacity of the ruler of all.
The “train” is the edge of Yahweh’s robe. This image means that no matter how high the throne is, Yahweh’s presence, symbolized by the hem of his garment, still “fills” the temple. Yahweh is all-powerful, and Yahweh is all-present.
Text: 2 Nephi 16 is the beginning of a new chapter in the 1830 edition. This is the second unit of Nephi’s Isaiah quotations and will cover through chapter 23 of the current edition. In the plates, chapters 16–22 were presented as a single unit, without chapter breaks. (See Behind the Text: Chapter 5, “The Organization of the Plates,” for information on the evidence for chapter breaks on the plates.)
History: Uzziah died in 740/739 B.C., allowing a firm date at which Isaiah began his ministry. Gottwald describes the times:
The dynasty of David continued to control Judah and a fluctuating area of Benjamin. All the other tribes withdrew to form their own monarchy, which carried the comprehensive national name “Israel” in contrast to the retention of the tribal name “Judah” for the southern kingdom. The two kingdoms ran parallel for 212 years, until the fall of Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C.E. Judah survived another 136 years before succumbing to Neo-Babylonia in 586 B.C.E.…
The combined work of David and Solomon moved Israel a long distance from “chieftainship” to “hierarchic kingship” along a trajectory that catapulted Israel into the forefront of ancient Near Eastern states, facilitated by the lack of any major contender for power at the time. The Solomonic bubble burst at his death when the empire split into two weaker core states after losing most of its extra-Palestinian territories. These weakened states eventually collided with the imperial designs of more powerful states. Nonetheless, the forms of state rule launched by David and maximized by Solomon set patterns that were continued in both kingdoms. It is likely that the later northern rulers Omri, Ahab, and Jeroboam II, as well as the southern rulers Uzziah and Josiah, presided for periods over empires that approached the affluence and security of Solomon’s domain.
Thus, Isaiah begins his mission in the southern kingdom (Judah) at a time of prosperity immediately preceding Assyria’s invasion of the northern kingdom (Israel), during which the ten tribes will become “lost.”