Isaiah wonders how long the children of Israel will be wicked. The answer given explains that they will be scattered all over the earth. It won’t be until the gathering of Israel in the last days that the children of Israel will turn again to the Lord their God. The house of Israel is likened to a tree in wintertime, though stripped of its leaves and barren, still the holy seed remains in the trunk and will bring forth beautiful leaves when Israel returns.
"Isaiah associated the oak and the terebinth (teal-tree) not only with apostasy but also with restoration. Both kinds of trees are robust and cannot be destroyed merely by chopping them down, for the remaining stumps will regenerate the tree by sending forth new shoots… (Isa. 6:12-13).
“Accordingly, Isaiah taught that a part of Israel would return like the oak and the terebinth, which though they are eaten or consumed (hayetah lebaer) right to their substance or stumps (matzebeth), yet they possess a seed in them that can regenerate.” (Terry Ball, Thy People Shall Be My People and Thy God My God…29 as taken from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. by K. Douglas Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003], 125)
2 Nephi 17-20 Historical context of Isaiah’s prophecies
At the time of Isaiah’s ministry, the children of Israel were divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.
The northern kingdom was also called the kingdom of Israel or the kingdom of Ephraim (because Ephraim was the leading tribe). The ten tribes lived in the northern kingdom. Since the days of Solomon, when the northern kingdom broke from the ruling family of the tribe of Judah, the northern kingdom had been ruled by wicked men. They had practiced idolatry, rejected the Lord, perverted the priesthood, etc. In chapter 17, one of the kingdom’s wicked kings, Pekah has made a pact with the king of Syria, Rezin, to conquer the kingdom of Judah. Any fighting between the northern and southern kingdoms was an abomination to the Lord They were brothers and should have lived together in peace.
The southern kingdom was also called the kingdom of Judah because Judah was the leading tribe. It contained members of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and some Levites. Since the days of Solomon, the southern kingdom had been ruled, for the most part, by righteous kings. One exception to this rule is king Ahaz, who followed the wicked ways of his northern neighbors (2 Chron 28:2). It was during the reign of Ahaz that Pekah and Rezin came against Jerusalem. Traditionally, the Lord had protected the children of Israel from the military conquests of their neighbors—even if they were vastly outnumbered. This protection required that the people trust in the Lord and not look to other nations for military alliances. At this time, both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom make alliances with their neighbors. The result is war, destruction, and the rejection of their Lord and Savior.
Isaiah’s ministry was among the Jews in Jerusalem, although he speaks of events in both kingdoms. The 1981 Book of Mormon Institute Manual discusses his ministry:
"Isaiah lived and prophesied during the reigns of four kings of Judah—Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Isaiah 1:1). This period of his ministry spanned from the year King Uzziah died (c. 740 BC) until the end of Hezekiah’s reign (c. 699BC). Tradition says he was killed by Hezekiah’s son Manasseh…
“Isaiah‘s call to the ministry came during the decline of Judah’s and Israel’s power and prosperity. During the reign of Ahaz, a major crisis occurred: the Syro-Ephraimite war (c. 734 BC). Pekah, King of Israel, and Rezin, King of Syria, threatened to capture Jerusalem and replace Ahaz with a king of their own choosing for the purpose of forming a tripartite alliance, consisting of Syria, Israel, and Judah, against Assyria. (See 2 Nephi 17ff.) Isaiah revealed the plot to Ahaz and prophesied that such an alliance would fail; the prophet tried in vain to convince Ahaz to place his trust in the Lord rather than in foreign alliances. Instead, Ahaz made an agreement with the Assyrian monarch, Tilgath-pelezer II (Pul), and Judah became a vassal state, paying tribute to Assyria to escape the threat of Syria and Israel.” (Book of Mormon Institute Manual, p. 93)