Chapter 25
Nephi glories in
plainness—Isaiah's prophecies shall be understood in the last days—The Jews
shall return from Babylon, crucify the Messiah, and be scattered and
scourged—They shall be restored when they believe in the Messiah—He shall first
come six hundred years after Lehi left Jerusalem—Nephites keep the law of Moses
and believe in Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel. About 559–545 B.C.
After Jacob finished his sermons, Nephi introduces the
teachings of Isaiah. He did so because “Isaiah spake many things which were hard
for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of
prophesying among the Jews” (2 Nephi 25:1).
Towards the end of his life, Jacob would explain, “But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked
people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and
sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which
blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath
taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which
they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it,
that they may stumble” (Jacob 4:14).
.
Much of Jacob’s sermon dealt with the gentiles and their
relationship to the Jews and house of Israel.
Nephi’s writing also contains teachings on the same subject. Why?
One reason is most certainly that he knew his writings and
teachings would be preserved for us today.
Of course, God’s dealings with the gentiles would be most relevant and
important to us today. But, why was it a
topic of sermons given to the people?
Granted, the ways of the Jews would be alien to his people because they
had never lived in Jerusalem or known the ways of the Jews.
There may also be another reason. Matthew Roper speculates, “If there were
others in the land, it would also help explain why many of Nephi's people had
difficulty understanding Isaiah, although not all of them did (2 Nephi 25:1-6).
Converts who had never lived in the ancient Near East would have lacked the
historical and cultural background that made the words of Isaiah ‘plain’ to
Nephi.”[1]
Nephi refused to teach his people the ways of the Jews, “for their works were works of darkness” (2
Nephi 25:2). “Lehi's flight from
Jerusalem was more than an escape; it was a conscious and deliberate
renunciation of a whole way of life: "I have charity for the Jew,"
Nephi announces, "I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I came"
(2 Nephi 33:8); yet he will not teach his people the ways of the Jews as he
knows them…”[2]
Alan Goff expanded on this topic:
Nephi said that he had "not
taught [the Nephites] many things concerning the manner of the Jews" (2
Nephi 25:2). This lack of knowledge of the way Jews prophesied and phrased the
revelations did have the advantage of keeping the Nephites free of the Jews'
"works of darkness, and their doings" (2 Nephi 25:2). But it also
made more difficult the Nephites' task of understanding Isaiah and the other
Hebrew prophets because "there is none other people that understand the
things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them" (2 Nephi 25:5).
Nephi's writings, though
"plain," still rely on his knowledge of the manner of Jewish prophecy
and the meanings of the Hebrew expressions he used. The brief narrative of what
happened at Nahom turns out to be deeper in meaning than we might have thought.
The narrative is far richer if we take into account Nephi's background when he
wrote his record. At the same time, it points to a great many more complexities
that await our probings as we continue to focus on this keystone scripture.[3]
[1] Nephi's
Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations, Matthew
Roper, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed October 6,
2013.
[2] The
Flight into the Wilderness, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute, accessed October 6, 2013.
[3] Mourning,
Consolation, and Repentance at Nahom, Alan Goff, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute, accessed October 6, 2013.
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