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ISAIAH 1:2-4
Hear Heavens! Hearken Earth! Because Jehovah Speaks
Isaiah invokes the heavens and the earth to hear and bear witness of the rebellion of the House of Israel using similar words spoken by Moses more than 500 years earlier. In doing so, he brings to the mind of the Israelites the covenant their fathers made to God before they entered their land of their inheritance. “Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers,” Moses told the Levite priests, “that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them,” (Deuteronomy 31:28). Moses was directed by the Lord to “write ye this song…and teach it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19). So, Moses gathered the children of Israel together. To that great gathering of the Lord’s covenant children, he began the song of the Lord in these words: “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth” (Deuteronomy 32:1).
A Prophecy and a Warning
The “song” uttered by Moses in the presence of the tribes of Israel is a prophecy and a warning dictated from the mouth of the Lord to the house of Israel (see Deuteronomy 31:16-21). Jehovah is blunt in his prophetic words and the condemnation upon the Israelites is poignant.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
Deuteronomy 31:16-21
As Moses called the tribes of Israel together to declare the song of the Lord, he foresaw the state of Israel in the last days and proclaimed, “I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands” (Deuteronomy 31:29). The word-link “latter days” connects this passage to the last days, or in other words, to our day. Moses’ use of the word “latter day” in the twilight of his life confirms that he truly intended to imply our time. He had already seen the vision from beginning to end and had used that term before. Concerning Melchizedek, Moses wrote, “And his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch which God had before taken, separating it from the earth, having reserved it unto the latter days, or the end of the world” (Genesis 14:34 [JST Genesis 14:34]).
You may decide to reread the quotation from Deuteronomy above, but this time read it as if the Lord is speaking about us and our people, not some distant culture or people. The Lord’s words are bitter and condemning. How intriguing that Isaiah’s calling upon heaven and earth invokes that ancient covenant and how it testifies against us “as a witness” of our wickedness.
The Broken Covenant
What was the covenant promise the Lord predicted that the house of Israel would break? What had they done (or would they do) to provoke the Lord to anger? The preamble of the Lord’s covenant begins with the following words:
These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb…. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water; That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day; That he may establish thee today for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Deuteronomy 29:1, 11-13
The meat of that covenant promise comes in the next chapter. The Lord gives the following promise to those who walk in his ways and keep his commandments:
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deuteronomy 30:15-16
What a wonderful and simple covenant promise! We see that promise of blessing the land and posterity throughout scripture in the ancient lands as well as the new world. Along with the covenant promises, however, comes covenant curses for those who are not faithful to the covenant:
But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Deuteronomy 30:17-20
There is a simple chiastic pattern where the covenant curse is encircled by the covenant promise in the preceding quotes. The chiasmus can be parsed into much greater complex patterns that gives greater depth of meaning and focus, but for this illustration, a simple A-B-A chiasmus demonstrates the promise-curse-promise pattern.
A See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it
B But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
A’ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Bridging the Gap
Isaiah uses several word-links that tie directly into the Lord’s “song” given to Moses and connecting his vision to the covenant promise and covenant curse Moses pronounced upon the house of Israel. His vision was anciently – and is still today – a witness for, and against, the house of Israel and all who claim to be covenant children of God.
Why is this important to know? When God speaks, his words are both powerful and enduring. “For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). The covenant given to ancient Israel is as valid now as it was more than 3300 years ago. When the Lord makes a covenant with his children, he fulfills that covenant promise. In the same vein, the covenant curses for broken covenants are also as valid today as they were for our ancient ancestors. The Lord said, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself, and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:8 [1:38]).
Just as the house of Israel made a covenant as a nation with the Lord to obey his commandments, so we also individually make this same covenant with the Lord as we step into the waters of baptism. Anyone who has been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of Christ has made this covenant and has the same covenant blessings as well as covenant curses. Are we not the descendants of those ancient fathers? Are we not the house of Israel? Are their covenants not also our covenants? Since Isaiah’s vision is a prophecy of the last days, he has effectively bridged our covenant promises and curses with our fathers who covenanted at the feet of Moses, symbolically calling us to remember the covenant of our forefathers just as Malachi predicted. Isaiah calls upon all the elements, both those in the heavens, the firmament above, and those upon the earth to testify of our righteousness and our wickedness; he calls upon the angels of heaven and those upon the earth to testify whether we have chosen “life or death, a blessing or a curse.”
Sealing the Word
The Lord uses his servants as mouthpieces. His servants include his angels and prophets. He also gives power to some of those earthly servants and prophets to seal or bind things in heaven and on earth. The Lord said to Peter, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:20 [16:19]). He also calls upon inspired men and women to write the words which he speaks to inspire and uplift, but also to record and judge. “I command all men, both in the east, and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them: for out of the books which shall be written, I will judge the world every man according to their works, according to that which is written” (2 Nephi 12 [29:11]).
Joseph Smith expanded on this concept in a letter to the Saints, “It is granted that whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven: or in other words, taking a different view of the translation; whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in Heaven; and whatsoever you do not record on earth, shall not be recorded in Heaven.”1
Thus, as Isaiah bridges the ancient covenants with our modern-day or new and everlasting covenant, we begin to better understand our obligation to God. Isaiah’s writings are a sealing or binding blessing and cursing upon the house of Israel, and as the seed of the house of Israel, we are fully bound by his words, whether we like it or not. In a day and age where we have at our fingertips the words of prophets from the dawn of time, we can hardly claim ignorance to the covenant terms of our ancient ancestors. Yet even in this critical time of discovering truth from error, we are quick to skip over the Isaiah portions of the Book of Mormon and hardly crack open the Bible in search for truth, but instead are so easily flattered by the cunning whispers of the adversary and “lulled away into carnal security,” that we are content to call out, “All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth [our] souls, and leadeth [us] away carefully down to hell” (2 Nephi 12 [28:21]) while the pages of Isaiah stay crisply closed.
If we in our zeal truly want to understand what Nephi and Jacob intended to say and to what the Lord refers in his prophecies in the Book of Mormon (see 3 Nephi), we need to understand Isaiah’s writings, the pivotal focus and the key to each of their prophecies, for we will be judged by his words whether we read them or not, and heaven and earth will stand as testimony for or against us.
Sons I Have Made Great and Exalted
Here is where Isaiah’s story pointedly turns toward us. The Lord laments that though he has favored and nourished his children, they still rebel against him. Though the King James’ and the inspired Joseph Smith versions use the word “children”, the Hebrew text says “sons” (בָּנִים|bä-nēm’). Sons, or son, is a term used in scripture to denote a covenant standing before the Lord. The Son of God was the first, not necessarily in chronology, but in greatness, according to scripture. Abraham said, “And the Lord said unto me, these two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other, there shall be another more intelligent than they: I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all” (Abraham 3:21).
Though, Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son, there are also other sons. A son of God is a covenant child of God, more expansively than what we are taught in our Sunday School classes. It is true, we are all sons and daughters of divine heavenly parents. This is not in question. But when the scriptures say, “but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12), we have to question why all are not sons or daughters of God. This must have more meaning than our divine heritage, but must refer to a more divine or greater ascending role of son-hood and covenant-making with God.
Becoming Sons of God
It is further explained that these sons are given power to become sons of God as they believe on his name. Are women left out then of this promise? No, they are as accountable as men, but Isaiah is using covenant terminology familiar in his day. And as the Christ “was born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13), so also are the sons of men raised unto and born of God. “Except a man be born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit” (John 3:5-6). We must be born of the Spirit and become cleansed in the blood of Christ and become heirs not only to the earthly blessings of God, but heirs to the heaven kingdom of God, as Christ was and is.
Isaiah sees in vision two covenant people or “children” (“sons” according to the Hebrew text): those of the ancient covenant, the descendants of the house of Israel, and particularly Judah, or the Jews, including Lehi and his descendants; and those of the new covenant, the descendants of Ephraim, the Gentile church, or us today. Remember that it was our fathers who first covenanted with God as they came across the sea to settle this continent as Puritan pilgrims and religious refugees. They were seeking a Zion, a place of refuge, and covenanted that this land would be dedicated to God and for his work and the building of a new Zion. Why else would the Lord honor the Gentile nations in their conquest of the Americas? Regarding the aspirations of Christopher Columbus and those who later followed in his course, Nephi saw in vision:
I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, which was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth among the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, which were in the promised land. And it came to pass that I beheld the spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters. And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles, upon the land of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles, and they were smitten. And I beheld the spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles; that they did prosper, and obtain the land of their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceeding fair and beautiful, like unto my people, before they were slain.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles which had gone forth out of captivity, did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them; and I beheld that their mother Gentiles was gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them, and I beheld that the power of God was with them; and also, that the wrath of God was upon them, that were gathered together against them to battle. And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles which had gone out of captivity, were delivered by the power of God, out of the hands of all other nations.
2 Nephi 3 [13:12-19]
Likewise, many generations prior to the coming of these Gentiles, the Lord made a similar covenant and promise to Lehi and his seed saying to Nephi, “Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise” (1 Nephi 1 [4:14]). Now the terms of the promise were also given that if they were not faithful to the covenant that men made with God, they would be cut off from his presence, and Nephi saw how the Gentiles came and subjugated his posterity and the posterity of his brethren. It was a covenant curse fulfilled, a curse for breaking the covenant. We would be naive to think that the Lord would deal differently with us than he had with the seed of Lehi if we similarly disregard our covenant promises. As we see in Nephi’s description of the fulfillment of the curse upon the Lamanites, so we will also see again a similar scourge upon the Gentile if we do not repent.
Regarding sons, Paul said, “If ye live after the flesh, unto sin, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live unto Christ. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:13-14). This was the case with young Joseph Smith as he revealed the new covenant to the Gentiles in the early 1800s. He established the doctrines of Christ, restored the priesthood of God, and revealed scriptures as another witness and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a prophet indeed, and we thereafter came into covenant with God and became covenant sons of God, like our ancient fathers with Moses, receiving covenants, ordinances, and priesthood. Though we may become sons of God, the spirit will not always strive with man (see 2 Nephi 11 [26:11]), and we see from Isaiah’s writing the peril we, too, are in if we disobey God and stray from his covenants.
Sons in Our Day
To truly understand Isaiah’s intent, we must comprehend that Isaiah’s words aren’t meant for his generation, nor of the Jews only, but he points to a future generation. Additionally, we must understand that all the prophecies of Isaiah have multiple fulfillment, first referring to prophetic fulfillment from before Isaiah’s time to the present, and second a prophecy and prediction that foreshadows a type of the last- or end-days to occur in our present time. In other words, Isaiah uses historical precedent to predict future events that combine into one grand tapestry foretelling what will happen in our day as the Lord prepares to come a second time. Nephi, who thoroughly understood the prophesies and intent of Isaiah, also wrote similarly. That which he prophesied is also intended for our ears and eyes and to be fulfilled in our time.
God has truly reared and “nourished” our people with great and glorious blessings to exceed that of nearly every preceding generation. We have knowledge about the prophesies and mysteries of God since the time of Adam and have more knowledge and understanding than any previous generation, and all this at the touch of our fingertips. We have received the covenants of God and made covenant with him through ordinance of baptism and ordinances in the house of the Lord. He has given us every opportunity to come to know him. Truly we have been nourished, or using the Hebrew root verbs in Isaiah 1:2 (גָּדַל|gä-däl’ and רוּם|rüm) we have been “made great” or strong and “exalted”. Yet, despite our nourishment from the Lord, we are at risk of becoming bitter fruit, as predicted by Jacob, the brother of Nephi (See Jacob 3 [5:29-32]).
The reared children or sons refers simultaneously to the Jews and the ancient house of Israel — the old covenant — and to us today — the new covenant. Do we not claim to be the chosen people of God? If so, listen to Isaiah’s words carefully for they are meant for us. Just as in days of old, if we rebel against our God, he will raise up other children to be his covenant people. To the woman Zion, the Lord says, “The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these” (Isaiah 49:20-21)?
When the Resurrected Lord visited the Nephite people, he spoke about the fulfilling of Isaiah’s words, in which he declared “it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day, whosoever will not repent and come unto my beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; and I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard” (3 Nephi 9 [21:20-21]). However, he also promised that “if they will repent, and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant, and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance” (3 Nephi 10 [21:22]). May we repent and truly become the sons and daughters of our God.
They Rebelled from Me
Our rebellion is the crux of the Lord’s anger and catalyst for the Lord to fulfill his covenant promises with the house of Israel. Once the modern covenant children of God rebel against the Lord as it is prophesied, or “when the Gentiles shall sin against my Gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my Gospel,” the Lord will “bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them” (3 Nephi 7 [16:10]). And then he will remember his covenant to “preach good tidings unto the meek,” and “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion; to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:1-3).
A Sinful Nation
The children of Israel, though God’s covenant sons and daughters, rebelled anciently against the Lord. In modern days, the covenant children follow a similar pattern. The Lord made evidence of this in our day: “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief and because you have treated lightly the things you have received, which vanity and unbelief hath brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all, and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the book of Mormon, and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say but to do according to that which I have written that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom, otherwise their remaineth a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion, for shall the children of the kingdom pollute my holy land? Verily, I say unto you, Nay” (D&C 4:8 [84:54-59]).
Isaiah says, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isaiah 1:4). Avraham Gileadi interpreted this passage as a generational decline in spiritual devotion. “A regression occurs from his people’s simply going ‘astray’ to their burdening themselves with ‘sin,’ which, over time, ends in outright ‘wrongdoing.’ That occurs collectively and generationally. The ‘offspring of wrongdoers’ turn into ‘perverse children,’ meaning that the rising generation has by now become thoroughly corrupt. ’Forsaking’ Jehovah and ‘spurning’ him finally become conscious and deliberate acts.”2
By Ones and Twos
The r
eference to an ox, or bull, and an ass are symbolic in suggesting that these animals, clean and unclean, know to whom they belong, but the Lord’s own children cannot or do not align with their God. The ox, a kosher animal according to the Law of Moses, is a symbol of a pure or clean individual who is of a covenant lineage of the house of Israel, a true descendant of Abraham. Notice how Isaiah only references one bull or ox, and not many. This is symbolic that one clean or pure Israelite here or another there does know his or her Owner, or He that bought or purchased (קֹנֵהוּ|kō-vä’-nü) him with His blood, though the covenant people at large are estranged from the Lord. This theme is repeated throughout Isaiah that men or women are called out one by one, “Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness; ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock from whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him” (Isaiah 51:1-2).
Likewise, the ass, or he-ass (חֲמוֹר|ḥä-mōr’), a non-covenant individual or unclean because he or she is not of the covenant lineage, will also know where to take their rest, where the home of their Master is, whom they will come to know and serve. “Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people…. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar” (Isaiah 56:3,7). Yet those who should know the Lord rebel against him, those who have received everything at his hand: knowledge, power, influence, inheritance, spirit, testimony, wealth, etc.
Contrasting the general apostasy of the Lord’s people that “have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isaiah 1:4; emphasis added), one of the Lord’s servants, his end-time servant, says “The Lord God hath appointed mine ears, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back” (Isaiah 50:5; emphasis added), continuing the theme of how one individually comes to the Lord and his covenant. In both these instances, Isaiah uses the word back or backward (אָחוֹר|ä-ḥōr’) as imagery of regression or turning away from the Lord. While Israel is regressing into transgression, this end-time servant, and others like him, move forward in faith despite the persecution that would come because he follows in the footsteps of the Lord: “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me” (Isaiah 50:5 [50:6-7]).
Though we may be of the covenant children of Christ, we are not assured a place in his kingdom because of our lineage or our affiliations. It is only through obedience to and belief in Jesus Christ that will assure us a place in that glorious kingdom. John made this point very clearly when to the Pharisees and Sadducees he said, “O, generation of vipers! Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Why is it that ye receive not the preaching of him whom God hath sent? If ye receive not this in your hearts, ye receive not me; and if ye receive not me, ye receive not him of whom I am sent to bear record, and for your sins ye have no cloak. Repent, therefore, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves: We are the children of Abraham and we only have power to bring seed unto our father Abraham, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children into Abraham” (Matthew 3:33-36 [3:7-9]).
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