Chapter 22
In the last days, Zion
and her stakes will be established, and Israel will be gathered in mercy and
tenderness—They will triumph—Compare Isaiah 54. About A.D. 34.
The Savior quotes the words of Isaiah (see Isaiah 54). He
teaches about a barrne woman, calling he blessed to have no children. These are
similar to words He spoke to the women who followed him to Golgotha. “For,
behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the
barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck” (Luke
23:29).
As we read this, we learn the woman represents Zion.
“[T]he faith of Zion must be proven in every generation .
Zion receives a fulness of joy only after a time of loneliness, just as the
spirit children of God receive eternal life only after they are tested by pain
and death in mortality. Zion enters the presence of the Lord only after a
period of hardship, just as the righteous Nephites see the face of Jesus only
after they have survived the destruction of the wicked in tempests, whirlwinds,
earthquakes, and other disasters. In 3 Nephi 22, latter-day Zion is portrayed
as being desolate in spite of the Lord's covenant that she will find joy as a
wife and a mother in the promised land. Zion is desolate because (1) she has no
children, (2) she has no permanent home or resting place, (3) her husband seems
to have forsaken her, and (4) adversaries are trying to destroy her. The Lord
promises to redeem Zion from such desolation by establishing a temple in her
midst. The light of the temple will overpower the efforts of her enemies. The
temple will gather the children of Israel to their home in Zion through
ordinances for the living and the dead.”[1]
He tells them to enlarge their tents and to strengthen the
stakes. The tent represents Zion. Zion needs to grow, and, in the process,
strengthening the stakes. “Until the day cometh when there is found no more
room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and
they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion” (D&C
101:21).
“We ask thee to appoint unto Zion other stakes besides this
one which thou hast appointed, that the gathering of thy people may roll on in
great power and majesty, that thy work may be cut short in righteousness” (D&C
109:59).
“One ecclesiastical division of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints is a stake. Tent stakes, or pegs, help hold up and enlarge
a tent. Each stake must be strong to keep the tent stable. President Ezra Taft
Benson wrote, ‘To members, the term stake is a symbolic expression. Picture in
your mind a great tent held up by cords extended to many stakes that are firmly
secured in the ground. The prophets likened latter-day Zion to a great tent
encompassing the earth. That tent was supported by cords fastened to stakes (3
Nephi 22:2; Isaiah 54:2).’”[2]
They will break forth and inherit they will inherit gentiles.
As Zion is established, desolate cities will be made inhabitable.
The woman (Zion) is counseled to
neither be ashamed or put to shame.
“And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise
the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my
people shall never be ashamed.
“And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and
that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be
ashamed” (Joel 2:26-27).
“O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not
mine enemies triumph over me.
“Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be
ashamed which transgress without cause”
(Psalms 25:2-3).
“My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day
long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my
hurt” (Psalms 71:24).
“The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the
promotion of fools” (Proverbs 3:35).
“Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a
companion of riotous men shameth his father” (Proverbs 28:7).
She is to forget the same of her youth. Also she will not
remember any reproach from both her youth and widowhood any more.
“The Savior understands Zion's desolation because he too was
stricken, smitten, oppressed, and afflicted (see Isaiah 53:4, 7). Zion is
called to be a ‘woman forsaken and grieved’ just as Christ was called to be ‘despised
and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3;
Mosiah 14:3). Christ was called to be the ‘stone which the builders refused’
(Psalm 118:22), so he knows how to succor the ‘wife of youth’ who was refused
(3 Nephi 22:6). The desolate woman will forget the shame of her youth because
the Lord will vindicate her (see Isaiah 60:15; 3 Nephi 22:4). After the Lord
redeems her, Zion will no longer remember the reproach of being alone.”[3]
[1] Redeeming
the Desolate Woman: The Message of Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22, Cynthia L.
Hallen, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
7/1 (1998): 42.
[2] Visualizing
Isaiah, Donald W. Parry, FARMS 2001, 112.
[3] Redeeming
the Desolate Woman: The Message of Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22, Cynthia L.
Hallen, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
7/1 (1998): 44.
No comments:
Post a Comment