Isaiah 1-6
I don’t know whether I respond more strongly to Isaiah because
it is as beautiful and powerful as I think it is, or because so much
emphasis is placed on Isaiah that it has become more familiar to me
than the prophesies of the minor prophets. Whatever the reason, I am
excited to have gotten to this year’s five Isaiah lessons.
Nothing matches Isaiah for passionate, poetic language. He starts with
a bang in Isaiah 1:2–3: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children
and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the
ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider.” And with that, he’s off with his soaring
language to describe an appalling situation with unmatched passion and
power. In verse 6, for example, he writes, “From the sole of the
foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and
bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment.” On the one hand, I am horrified
by the imagery. On the other hand, I am moved by his intensity. This
man can write.
In Isaiah 1:16–20, he writes, “Wash you, make you clean:
put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do
evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge
the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If
ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if
ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it.”
In Isaiah we always have this combination: direct and eloquent pleading
with the reader to turn away from sin and come back into a righteous
lifestyle, and anguish at the ugliness and heartlessness of sin. It’s
powerful stuff. I love the simplicity of what he is pleading for—the
simplest kindnesses, the most basic justice, and the most meaningful
help a person is able to give on a personal level. He is not abstract.
He doesn’t plead for the powerful. He wants us to help those who
are oppressed, or orphaned, or who mourn for the loss of a spouse. He
combines a deep kindness with a strong sense of justice, and of setting
things right that have long been neglected.
One of the things I notice about Sunday School classes is that we tend
to talk about the scriptures as though they are only about long-distant
events. I liked what the lesson guide said on page 24, because it is
a reminder that the scriptures are not just about what happened thousands
of years ago: “Many of Isaiah’s warnings and prophesies
apply both to his time, which was a time of great wickedness, and to
our time.” Indeed. Although I haven’t read what Avraham
Gileadi has written lately, (and yes, it embarrasses me to admit
that to you), I do know from reading some of his earlier work about
Isaiah that Gileadi is an authority. If you don’t know about his
work, you ought to.
In addition, 2 Nephi 11 is a good introduction to Isaiah. It precedes
2 Nephi 12, which contains essentially the same text as Isaiah 2. (And
of course, since Jacob was a big fan of Isaiah, the following chapters
in 2 Nephi also contain a great deal of Isaiah, including the remainder
of the chapters to be covered by this lesson.)
I don’t know anyone who is plainer about modern idolatry than
Isaiah. (Of course, his words apply to ancient idolatry as well. I am
more interested by what can be applied to us today.) In Isaiah 2:7–8,
he writes, “Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither
is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses,
neither is there any end of their chariots; their land also is full
of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their
own fingers have made….” Is there a better way to describe
our own materialistic society?
I like Isaiah 2:22, where he writes, “Cease ye from man, whose
breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
In one verse he has identified our greatest weakness, our mortality;
by referring to our breath, however, he also reminds us of our dependence
on God, who gave us “the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7).
Isaiah 3 contains a couple of interesting things. The first part of
the chapter talks about the disintegration of society. Isaiah 3:5 reads,
“And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and
every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against
the ancient, and the base against the honourable.” In Isaiah 3:14–15,
it reads, “The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients
of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard;
the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat my
people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God
of hosts.”
The remainder of chapter 3, verses 16–26, deals with vanity;
more specifically, it deals with women’s vanity. I am interested
by the fact that the discussion about vanity is so close to the phrase
about “the spoil of the poor is in your houses.” D&C
42:40 reads, “And again, thou shalt not be proud in thy heart;
let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work
of thine own hands….” Obviously, we are a long way from
being able to make all of our own clothing. Even if you sew, you probably
don’t grow your own cotton or wool, and you probably don’t
weave your own cloth. (One of my friends has a loom; however, I doubt
there are many women in the United States who can say the same thing.
Do you have room for a loom? I don’t.) But I want you to consider
the clothing industry for a moment. You probably wear clothing that
you do not have the skill to make. I know that’s true for me!
But did the person who made it for you make a fair wage?
Is it possible that we could dress more simply than we sometimes do?
Is it also possible that we should take more of a hand in taking responsibility
for making our own clothing? To me, the answer is yes. And for this
very reason, I’ve been interested for many years in sewing and
(more recently) in making jewelry. What that means is I’ve learned
to value the skill, time, and materials required for making things.
I have also learned to recognize shoddy workmanship, and I’ve
realized that there is no magic to store-bought goods. (Making things
also happens to be a really fun hobby, but that is another subject.)
I don’t presume to tell you what would be appropriate in your
own case. However, what I do suggest is that we bear a responsibility
for paying low prices that take advantage of the time and efforts of
another person. In particular, people in the United States have a huge
dependence on goods made by those who are far from wealthy. I am suggesting
that perhaps you should take a look at that fact, and consider your
moral responsibility in finding some small way to change the balance.
The lesson guide (p. 24) draws attention to Isaiah 4:5–6, which
reads, “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of
mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the
shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be
a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime
from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm
and from rain.” I liked the questions: “What three holy
places mentioned in Isaiah 4:5–6 offer safety from evil? What
expressions are used in these verses to describe how these holy places
will protect us?” I will leave the answers to you.
Isaiah 5:7 is one of my favorite verses. It reads, “For the vineyard
of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his
pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for
righteousness, but behold a cry.” Not happy stuff! Why do I like
this verse so much?
Many years ago I did an exercise with it. I looked it up in several
translations, and then I looked up the Hebrew definition for each word.
It took a little while, but it was very rewarding. I recommend the same
exercise for you. (One way to find the Hebrew definitions—especially
if you are like me and you do not know much about Hebrew—is to
use Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. You look up the words in English,
get a number, and then look up the Hebrew definition by using the number.
It’s a great system.)
I also like Isaiah 5:20, which reads, “Woe unto them that call
evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” I
can’t think of a better description of what makes this life so
challenging when you are trying to steer a straight course. The idea
is to choose the right (or the left, as the case may be), but the real
challenge is in being sure that you are right about what is good and
what is evil. In this day and age, that isn’t an easy task at
all.
The last chapter of the reading assignment is Isaiah 6, where Isaiah
talks about how he was called as a prophet. Again, it’s really
good. It also has a lot of footnotes (true for all of Isaiah). The heart
of it is in Isaiah 6:8–13, which starts with something highly
reminiscent of the council in heaven (“Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us?”). Isaiah is given a totally depressing call:
he is to preach, and he knows from the beginning it won’t do any
good. “Then said I, Lord, how long?” he writes, and the
answer is equally depressing: “Until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.”
The only mitigation of this is in verse 13, where he is promised that
“a tenth… shall return….” (I am not sure what
to make of the follow-up promise, which says the returning tenth “shall
be eaten.” Is this good or bad? I guess it depends on whether
you are the one eating dinner, or the one on the dinner plate.)
It is a funny thing about loving Isaiah, because what he says is so
beautiful and so ugly at the same time. However, I guess if you have
to read about ugly things, it helps if one of the greatest poets of
all time is the one who tells it to you.
Sunday School Notebook - Sep 2006 - Susan Morgan
