2
Ne 20 The Lord uses the king of Assyria to destroy Israel but protects Judah
from Assyrian conquest
This
chapter of Isaiah is much easier to understand after reading 2 Kings 18-19. These
chapters give the historical background for the conflict between the king of
Assyria and Hezekiah, the king of Judah. They also show the relationship
between Hezekiah and Isaiah. Many doctrinal themes contained in chapter 20 are
also found in 2 Kings.
2
Ne 20 Isaiah uses the Hebrew form of poetry called chiasmus
Many
of Isaiah’s prophecies and many other prophecies in the Book of Mormon use
chiasmus. The significance of this poetic form is that it emphasizes the center
concept in a crescendo-decrescendo fashion. The doctrinal climax is found in
the middle. This chapter is a good example of how the most important concept is
emphasized by the arrangement of the text.
“After his fourfold warning to Israel,
Isaiah continues his discourse in the form of a poetic prophecy. He gives
warning to both Assyria and Israel in a poem structured in introverted parallelism
(chiasmus). The poem encompasses the entire chapter and can be outlined as
follows:
A. The wicked will bow down (vs. 1-4)
B. Assyria raised by the Lord (5)
C. The Assyrian king speaks against Jerusalem (6-11)
D. The Lord will punish proud Assyria (12-14)
E. An ax is used as a tool (15)
F. The Lord is a burning fire in the land (16-17)
G. Out of all the shrubs—only a remnant remains (18-19)
H. A remnant of Israel shall
return to the Lord (20-21)
G.’ Out of the “sands of the
sea”—only a remnant returns (22)
F.’ A divine consumption is in the land (23)
E.’ A rod is used as an instrument
(24-26)
D.’ Assyria’s yoke will be lifted (27)
C.’ Assyrian army approaches Jerusalem
(28-32)
B.’ Assyria humbled by the Lord (33)
A.’
The haughty will be cut down (34)”
(Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet,
by Victor L. Ludlow, p. 161)
“If chiasmus can be convincingly
identified in the Book of Mormon, it will testify of the book’s ancient origin.
No one in America, let alone in western New York, fully understood chiasmus in
1830. Joseph Smith had been dead ten full years before John Forbes’s book was
published in Scotland…If the Book of Mormon is found to contain true chiastic
forms in an ancient style, then is not the book’s own repeated claim to be the
product or an ancient culture veritably substantiated?” (John W. Welch, Book
of Mormon Authorship, 41-42 as taken
from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. by K. Douglas
Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003], 154)
2
Ne 20:1-2 Wo unto them that…take away…that widows
may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
“We
hear reports from time to time of older men and women who, in the sunset of
their lives, are neglected by their families and their neighbors. Those who are
both poor and old often suffer doubly. We hope family members, quorums, Relief
Society officers, bishops, and others, using the Lord's own way, will make
certain that they are not inadvertently neglecting such needy people. The ways
the world has of helping the poor are not often the Lord's way. We must render
help in the Lord's way, but let us do it!
“Welfare Programa-Kimball, Spencer W.TPBe certain that we are proceeding appropriately to learn of such instances where people need help of one kind or another. Please don't assume that such individuals will always make their needs known. Often those who need help most are the last to make it known.
“Welfare Programa-Kimball, Spencer W.TPThe ones about whom I am particularly speaking are
those who will suffer in silence because they are proud or because they do not
know what to do. Surely sensitive home teachers, visiting teachers, quorum
leaders, and bishops can be more effective in both ascertaining and responding
to the needs of these individuals.” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball
[Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], 368.)
2
Ne 20:4 Without me they shall bow down under the
prisoners
Since
the Israelites had rejected the Lord, He would no longer protect them. Moses
had learned centuries before that man is nothing without the help of God, ‘for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I
never had supposed’ (Moses 1:10). As individuals or as a nation, we
cannot afford to live “without the Lord.” If we try, we will likely suffer the
same fate as the Israelites.
Brigham
Young
“Our religion incorporates every act
and word of man. No man should go to merchandising unless he does it in God; no
man should go to farming or any other business unless he does it in the Lord.
No man of council should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the
Lord that he may righteously and impartially discern between right and wrong,
truth and error, light and darkness, justice and injustice. Should any
legislature sit without the Lord? If it [does], sooner or later it will fall to
pieces. No nation ever did live that counseled and transacted its national
affairs without the Lord, but what sooner or later went to pieces and came to
naught. The same is true of all the nations that now live or ever will live.” (Discourses
of Brigham Young, ed. by John A. Widstoe, p. 9)
2
Ne 20:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger
The
kings of Assyria are likened to a rod in the hand of the Lord. It was through
these kings that the Lord brought judgment upon the kingdom of Israel. This
phrase refers to more than one king as at least three were spoken of at this
time, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib. Later in the chapter the
kings of Assyria are likened to other tools—the ax, the saw, the rod, and the
staff (v. 15).
2
Ne 20:6 I will send him against a hypocritical
nation
The
hypocritical nation spoken of is the kingdom of Israel. It is likely that at
the time this prophecy was given, this hypocritical nation had already been
sacked and taken northward. This is recorded in 1 Kings 17:6, ‘In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took
Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in
Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.’ This
is how the 10 tribes get lost; they are taken to the north by the Assyrians.
Other than the description here, we have no idea where they have been taken. It
is commonly understood that they were subsequently scattered all over the earth
and probably a cohesive group was led further north.
“…the Other Tribes did become ‘lost’ to Judah’s
record-keepers—not simply because they were taken captive, but also because
they left their captivity and went forth ‘into a land further distant,’
numerous of them undoubtedly choosing to settle in the lands through which they
traveled.
“Since that time—particularly in the
last few centuries—attempts to locate and identify the Other Tribes have been
numerous. At different times and by a variety of Christian authors the Other
Tribes of Israel have been identified with the Japanese, Chinese, Turks,
Ethiopians, Persians, Yemenites, Nestorians, Afghans, Arabians, Britons,
Kassites of Russia, Hindus and Buddhists of India, Scythians, Cimmerians,
Celts, Kareens of Burma, North and South American Indians, Australians, and
Eskimos. Indeed it is possible that remnants of the Other Tribes may have
spread out and became part of all these peoples in fulfillment of the
prophecies that Israel would spread itself throughout many countries.” (Vern G.
Swanson, “Israel’s ‘Other Tribes,’ ” Ensign, Jan. 1982, 29–30)
2
Ne 20:7 he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart
think so
The
king of Assyria was given a specific charge from the Lord—‘to take the spoil’ (of Israel) and ‘to take the prey’ (prisoners), ‘and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.’
In this venture, the king of Assyria was acting as a tool in the Lord’s hand.
It was not the Lord’s doing to have him destroy all the other neighboring
nations. The phrase, ‘he meaneth not so, neither
doth his heart think so’, means that the will of the king of Assyria was
not the same as the will of his Maker. Sennacherib did not understand that the
Lord had planned for him to capture only Israel. Instead, his plan was to
conquer as many people as he could, ‘nations not a
few,’ and to destroy them completely. He even falsely assumed that the
Lord had sent him to destroy the kingdom of Judah, ‘The
Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it’ (2 Kings
18:25).
2
Ne 20:9-12 Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath
as Arpad?
Now
the king of Assyria is beginning to brag about his military conquests. To
paraphrase, he is saying, “didn’t I destroy Calno just as I did Carchemish?
Haven’t I beaten those of Hamath like I beat those of Arpad?”
During
the reign of Hezekiah, after Israel had been captured, the Assyrian king sent
emissaries to the Jews to subject them to their king. Three men (named Tartan, Rabsaris,
and Rabshakeh) came to the Jews to taunt them and command them to submit to
Assyrian authority or be destroyed as the other nations had been. Part of their
argument was that the Jews had no one who could help them. Egypt would not save
them. Certainly, their god could not save them. They mocked the Jews declaring
that their god was no more able to save them from the Assyrians than the gods
of the other nations were able to save them. They asked, ‘Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the
gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of mine
hand?’ (2 Kings 18:34) This is the same argument as in verse 11, ‘Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so
do to Jerusalem and to her idols.’ The response of the Jews and Hezekiah
is to seek protection from the Lord and counsel from Isaiah. They are promised
the Lord’s protection and receive it in a most dramatic way (v. 26).
2
Ne 20:12-14 I will punish the fruit of the stout
heart of the king of Assyria
The
pride of the Assyrian king is repugnant to the Lord. He will not allow him to
destroy the kingdom of Judah. Instead, he promises Assyrian destruction. This
comes because the Assyrian king had taken all the credit for his military
successes, ‘For he saith: by the strength of my hand
and by my wisdom I have done these things; for I am prudent.’
This
pride is similar to the pride of the wicked Nephites in the last battles with
the Lamanites:
‘And in the three hundred and sixty and second year they did
come down again to battle. And we did beat them again, and did slay a great
number of them, and their dead were cast into the sea.
And now, because of this great thing which my people, the
Nephites, had done, they began to boast in their own strength, and began to
swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of
their brethren who had been slain by their enemies.
And they did swear by the heavens, and also by the throne of
God, that they would go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them
off from the face of the land.
And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly refuse from this
time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people, because of their
wickedness and abomination.’ (Mormon 3:8-11)
2
Ne 20:15 Shall the ax boast itself against him that
heweth therewith?
One
of the greatest sins that a servant of the Lord can commit is the sin of
ingratitude. This sin encompasses a spiritual blindness to the works of the
Lord. In the latter days, the Lord has eloquently expressed this concept, ‘And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his
wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not
his commandments’ (DC 59:21). This is the sin of the king of Assyria—that
he did not recognize the hand of the Lord in his military successes.
Elder Rudger
Clawson
“I have
wondered sometimes, while traveling in the midst of this people, whether we
really understand what the Lord is doing, whether we comprehend His great
purposes, and can recognize His hand. I am sure of one thing—that there are
many who are numbered with the Church, particularly among the young, who are
passing through life without a serious thought. I have seen it in families, in
wards and in stakes, that their minds seemed to rest more particularly upon the
pleasures of life and the things of the world. And yet the Lord said in the
very beginning of this dispensation that He was about to commence a marvelous
work and a wonder; that it should be something out of the ordinary; that it
should be of such a character as to attract attention in the world, so much so
that men would be led to exclaim ‘Truly it is a marvelous work.’” (Conference
Report, Oct. 1901, p. 7)
Elder Rulon G.
Wells
“This
gospel…teaches first and foremost faith in God. It teaches men and women to
turn their hearts to Him, that they may derive wisdom and understanding and the
inspiration of His Holy Spirit. It teaches men and women to put their trust in
Him, and to acknowledge His hand in all things. ‘In
nothing doth man offend God, or against none is His wrath kindled, save those
who confess not His hand in all things, and obey not His commandments,’
not only in our prosperity but in our adversity: not only in our fortune but in
our misfortune not only in life but also in death. What would we be if there
was no such thing as sorrow in this world? what would men and women be in
character? They would be unsympathetic; they would not love their fellow men:
they would not have those fine traits of character, those noble qualities of
heart and of mind, were it not for the fact of the trials they have to endure,
the adversity that they have to put up with, and the difficulties they have to
encounter. We would not progress; we would not be progressive beings if it were
so; but thank the Lord that His hand is in all these things. Those things which
sometimes seem to be our greatest sorrows will be sanctified for our good, and
often have the purpose in the wisdom of the Almighty of bringing us nearer to
Him. The one thing for us always to remember is the Lord our God, and recognize
His hand in all things, and if we will do that every misfortune, every
difficulty that may come to us, every adversity that overtakes us, will be a
blessing though it be in disguise, for nothing of our experiences in mortal
life will be in vain; all will have its purpose and all will go to make up our
character.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1912, p. 24)
The
Assyrian army is going to attack Jerusalem only to be devoured by the Lord as a
flame would devour thorns and ‘briers in one day.’
The significance of this event is underscored by the chapter heading which
reads, the “Destruction of Assyria is a type of destruction at the Second
Coming.”
“He describes Assyria as coming from the North; oppressive and ruthless; a law unto itself; militaristic and bent on world domination; imposing its yoke of servitude on other nations; encroaching on the world by degrees, swallowing up territories; and setting all the surrounding peoples in fear of it. When the world is ripe in iniquity, Assyria suddenly bursts forth like a flood. With its alliance of nations, it sweeps over the entire earth, conquering, destroying by fire and by the sword, leaving havoc and disaster in its wake—capturing the whole world. Only Zion/Jerusalem, a safe place for the Lord’s righteous, does Assyria not conquer. Assyria invades even Egypt, the other great superpower; Assyria penetrates Egypt and ravages her land.
“After a few years of war and oppression, Assyria
lays siege to Zion/Jerusalem, where a remnant of Israel take refuge. Then
occurs Assyria’s demise. Because of his covenant with Israel, and because the
righteous of his people remain faithful through much trial and tribulation, the
Lord utterly destroys the Assyrian army. The 185,000 men who perished overnight
in the days of King Hezekiah…serve as the historical type of a latter-day
Armageddon….” (Abraham Gileadi, The Book of Isaiah: A new Translation with
Interpretive Keys from the Book of Mormon, 72-73 as taken from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed.
by K. Douglas Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003],
162-163)
2
Ne 20:20-22 the remnant of Israel…shall return
The
gathering of Israel is a doctrine so important and fundamental that it is
included in our articles of faith, ‘We believe in
the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes’
(A of F 10). Even before Israel has been completely scattered, Isaiah prophesies
of their return in the latter-days. Hereby, the terrible destruction and
captivity of Isaiah’s day will be turned to joy.
“The
prophets which have been shut up in the north country with the nine and a half
tribes led away by Shalmanezer, King of Assyria, thousands of years ago, will
come in remembrance before God; they will smite the rocks and mountains of ice
will flow down before them, and those long lost tribes will come forth in your
day and mine, if we live a few years longer, and they will be crowned under the
hands of the children of Ephraim—the elders of Israel who dwell in the land of
Zion. And by and by the testimony of the gospel will be sealed among the
Gentiles, and the gospel will turn to the whole house of Israel, and the
judgments of God will back up the testimony of the elders of this Church, and
the Lord will send messengers who will go forth and reap down the earth.” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham
[Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 114.)
“A
remnant of the people of Israel are to be saved, and they will yet be gathered
together. 16:109.
““Ephraim has become mixed with all the nations of the
earth, and it is Ephraim that is gathering together. 2:268.
“We are
gathering the people as fast as we can. We are gathering them to make Saints of
them and of ourselves.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, selected and
arranged by John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 121.) 2
Ne 20:24 O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not
afraid of the Assyrian Returning
to the political situation of Hezekiah, the Jews were threatened by the
Assyrian emissaries (see commentary for 2 Ne 20:9-12). At the time, the
Assyrians were much more powerful than the kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah’s
response was as follows, ‘he rent his clothes, and
covered himself with sackcloth, and went in the house of the Lord’ (2
Kings 19:1). Hezekiah then did the right thing—he asked the prophet, Isaiah,
for advice. Isaiah responded, ‘Thus saith the Lord, Be
not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the
king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and
he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him
to fall by the sword in his own land’ (2 Kings 19:6-7). Hezekiah
next received another messenger from the Assyrian king, repeating the threats
of his servants. Next, ‘Hezekiah went up into the
house of the Lord, and…prayed…O Lord God of Israel…I beseech thee, save thou us
out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art
the Lord God, even thou only’ (2 Kings 19:14-19). That the
prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled and the prayer of Hezekiah was answered will
be seen in the next verses. 2
Ne 20:25 For yet a very little while, and the
indignation shall cease Isaiah
speaks of the Assyrian king’s invasion of the kingdom of Judah. He had very
brief success against some of the cities north of Jerusalem as listed in verses
28-32 (Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Geba, Ramath, Gibeah, Gallim, Laish, Anathoth,
Madmenah, Gebim). This is the indignation spoken of. The Lord would not let
this success continue for long. Through Isaiah, He had promised Hezekiah, ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow
there…For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my
servant David’s sake’ (2 Kings 19:34). 2
Ne 20:26 a scourge…according to the slaughter of
Midian The
judgment of the Lord is about to come upon the Assyrian king and army. The
destruction prophesied is likened to two other events in which the Lord showed
a mighty hand in defeating the enemies of the children of Israel—the slaughter
of Midian and the exodus from Egypt. As
the slaughter of Midian may not be as familiar as the story of the exodus, it
is useful to review what the Lord did in this battle. The story is found in
Judges 7. It tells the story of when Gideon led the armies of Israel against
the Midianites and the Amalekites. Gideon led an army of 32,000 against an
enemy that was so numerous that the scriptures describe it as follows, [they] ‘lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude;
and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude’
(Judges 7:12). Nevertheless, the Lord wanted to show the Israelites his
great power. He instructed Gideon to send home any who were scared. 22,000
troops left, leaving him with an army of 10,000. The Lord replied, ‘The people are yet too many’ (Judges
7:4), so He commanded that Gideon use only those troops who drank water like a
dog, lapping it up with their tongues. Gideon was left with an army of 300 men.
This army of 300 then surrounded the enemy, each with a trumpet in one hand and
a torch in the other hand. In unison, they blew their trumpets. The opposing
army, thinking they were surrounded by the enemy, arose in a great confusion.
They began to kill each other in a great slaughter. Those that remained fled,
only to be cut down by Gideon’s pursuing band of 300. This
is an excellent example to strengthen the courage of the Jews as they were
greatly outnumbered by the Assyrians. How the Lord destroyed such a great
Assyrian army is described as follows, ‘And it came
to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp
of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose
early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib
king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh’
(2 Kings 19:35). So we see that the prophecies of Isaiah were fulfilled to
perfection for he said that the ‘Holy One…shall
devour his thorns and his briers in one day’ (v. 17 italics
added) and ‘the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough
with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down’ (v. 33). 2
Ne 20:32 he shall shake his hand against the mount
of the daughter of Zion Sennacherib’s
army had taken stronger cities than Jerusalem. He had no reason to think he
would not be successful as he approached the city. So when he arrives just
north of the city, he shakes ‘his hand against’
Jerusalem. But Isaiah had a message for
this boastful ax and shaking rod: ‘This
is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; the virgin the daughter
of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of
Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast
thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against
the Holy One of Israel. …therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy
lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest… Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He
shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it
with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same
shall he return.’ (2 Kgs. 19:21-33)