When Jesus Christ visited the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, one of the express charges he made to the people was to study the words of Isaiah. More particularly, he stated "And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea a Commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah. For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles. And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake." See 3 Nephi 23: 1-3

Isaiah's writings take time to read and to understand, but if a person is willing to take the writings one verse at a time, and look for keys to understanding Isaiah, the rewards are magnificent.

In Part I of our lesson commentary, the focus was on chapter 6 of 2 Nephi. This Part II of our commentary moves on to chapters 7 and 8. As volumes could be written on these chapters, we will try to cover the profound material in brief, but insightful, fashion. Chapters 9 and 10 are covered well in the Gospel Doctrine Manual. As this commentary is intended to be supplemental in nature, we would encourage teachers to avoid making lessons complex and use this material only to the extent it provides insight into the simple concepts of the Plan of Salvation taught in the official Manual. Those who have a good grasp of those concepts can then consider these writings in their personal study.

As we always say, "Words Have Meaning," and this is particularly true for Isaiah. Our past pattern in reading scriptures works well for plowing through hundreds of chapters of material in a single year. If we did not read the Book of Mormon like a romance novel, we could never begin in 1 Nephi in January and end at Moroni in December.
The same holds true to Seminary and Institute Curriculum that must cover an entire work of scripture like the New Testament or Book of Mormon in only five months. What is good for the calendar and teacher, however, is not always good for the student or the author of the scripture.

This is where personal scripture study must come into play. The teacher must keep moving to keep up with the curriculum. The student, however, can approach scripture study in any manner they choose in order to make the most out of the time they put in.

Would it be too difficult a concept to ask students to study no more than a single chapter of scripture in an entire week? Can anyone imagine Christ reading the scriptures like the latest issue of People Magazine -- jumping from headline to headline. Of course, we can't. So how should we approach Isaiah in the Book of Mormon.

First, we have a commandment to study his words.  A commandment is not a suggestion, nor is it even a word of wisdom. It is something that has a duty associated with it, so let us examine what that duty is before we go further.

At the most modest level, it is to read the words of Isaiah at a level of complete lack of understanding. In short, it would be no different than if you were to pick up a book in a foreign language. You could read the text, but have no understanding as to what is being said. In a technical sense, this would be in compliance with the commandment to read Isaiah.

But wait, Christ did not command us to read Isaiah, he said that we needed to "Search these things."  What does search mean? The dictionary description of search indicates that it is to go or look through carefully to find something lost or missing (www.dictionary.com). If words have meaning, then these words are very important to the reading of Isaiah.

Most would say that Isaiah is confusing and that the original meaning has been lost somehow. The words of Christ that we should search Isaiah indicates that we need to go or look through carefully to find the lost or missing meaning.

Then how should we approach Isaiah? There is very little time during the day to set aside to try to understand what appears to be difficult and obscured language.

Agreed. Isaiah has hidden the meaning of his words, but understanding Isaiah requires three things. First (1), it requires a key or decoding concept; (2) it requires time for contemplation and third (3), it requires the Holy Ghost for understanding. Without these guideposts, our search of Isaiah's meaning will be difficult, if not impossible.

Sometimes, the scriptures put the cart before the horse. Such is the case in 2 Nephi. In these chapters, 6-10, we read the key or decoding concept after Jacob shares the Isaiah chapters. This makes reading the Isaiah chapters so much the worse because we don't have a clear understanding as to why these chapters have been chosen by Jacob and what it is that Jacob is trying to teach us.

Before you read chapters 6, 7 or 8, please read chapters 9 and 10. If you are impatient and just want to know the key concept, like most of us in the world, then we will share the key with you.

The key concept is . . . (spoiler -- don't read unless you really want to know!)

For those who want to know, the key concept is the physical and spiritual redemption of Christ. In other words, in order to understand the quoted Isaiah in chapters 6, 7 and 8, you need to understand that Isaiah is not exclusively talking about the restoration of Israel, but is also talking about the redemption of Christ in the physical and spiritual sense for all mankind. If you only read the words of Isaiah as to the restoration of Israel, you will only catch a small nuance of meaning within the written words. If you understand also that Isaiah is concurrently talking about the gift Christ gives to all mankind, then the book is opened more fully to one's understanding and perhaps for the first time, you will actually read and understand Isaiah. So let us check off the key concept aspect on our requirements.

Next, we turn to time for contemplation and the Holy Ghost. The interesting thing about these two requirements is that they speak more to personal preparation than anything else. Only the student can gauge whether they have the time or correct spiritual attitude to read Isaiah.

Let us assume, for a moment, that the reader or student does not have the Holy Ghost. Perhaps the student needs to repent for something or has taken the gospel commandments too lightly and the Spirit has withdrawn. Or maybe, the student or reader has just had "one of those days." The reader may not have control over whether he or she has the Holy Ghost at the very moment of reading the passages of Isaiah. Despite the Holy Ghost not being present, all is not lost.

What is in the reader's control is the time for contemplation. In other words, if the student or reader has a general understanding of the key concept and is willing to dedicate time for contemplation, the Holy Ghost need not be immediately present at the beginning of the exercise of "searching." In most instances, the Holy Ghost will come if the reader is sincere as the mission of the Holy Ghost is to bear witness of Christ and the truth of the gospel. With adequate diligence, it would be more probable than not that the third prong for understanding Isaiah will be met.

Having at least two of the elements in place, we can begin the study of chapter 7.

2 Nephi 7: 1-2
It takes two to tango. It also takes two in order to cast someone off, to put away, to divorce or to sell a debtor to a creditor. In each case, it takes two people. If I cast someone off, then there is the person in the boat and the person on shore. If I put someone away, there is the person in prison and the person outside of the prison responsible for making the charge that leads to imprisonment. To divorce someone, there first has to be the marriage of two persons. To sell a person into a debtor's prison, there must be a creditor. In each case, the Lord is saying through Isaiah that there is an active participant in removing a person from the presence of another person.

In verse 1, the Lord simply states the obvious: "ye have sold yourselves." He then tells us that our sin impacts others, not just ourselves when he states: "and for your transgressions is your mother put away."

These are chilling statements that cut to the heart. First, the Lord is making it very clear that our removal from God has been accomplished through our acts, not the acts of another. This is a statement of accountability. Only we are responsible for our removal from God. We are the ones who are in a fallen state because we have sinned (think of the key concept of redemption to get more meaning out of these words).

The second statement makes it clear that others have been injured because of our sins. What sin doesn't impact another person -- often times, those most dear to us? Under what egregious circumstances can we imagine that the sins of a child would result in the mother of the family being imprisoned?

Let us look at the role of the mother. She gives us life. She loves us. She would do anything for us, yet our sins are so significant that she would be put away. Perhaps the statement is meant to show us how blind we really are about our condition. First, we blame others for our condition and second, we harm others as a result of our acts.

So Christ comes to the house. He calls upon the family of mankind in Verse 3 and there is no man.

In this instance, the Lord seems to be saying that our sins have resulted in the enslavement of loved ones and the death or removal of the man of the household, or more importantly, perhaps the removal of the priesthood of God from the home. There is no one to answer his call. Not only is the priesthood and virtue removed because of sin, but there is no one who will serve God left remaining.

Continuing on in Verse 3, the Lord talks about his power and his priesthood authority. He can and does control the elements, but by all indications, he does not control you. You have openly sinned against God and left his presence and he cannot command you back into his presence. He has the power to deliver you, but he will not force you to return. Like the Prodigal son, you have left on your own and you must choose to return to God before Christ will deliver you.

Now we skip a few verses and move forward to chapter 7, verse 6. This is Isaiah speaking of Christ's life. Note generally the description given of the abuse that Christ would encounter during his life. Now note the physical features described: "my back," "my cheeks," "hair," and "face." There was also "shame" which is an emotional injury. We see from this that there is a physical and emotional price to be paid by Christ.

Through his "shame" we will "not be confounded" and we "shall not be ashamed."

In verse 8, we see that the Lord will fight our battles and asks that we "stand together."

The Lord then asks "Who is my adversary?" It is a good question. If the Lord cannot tolerate sin, then anyone with sin could be considered his adversary. Certainly, Satan would be an adversary.

The Lord asks that the adversary come near so that he might smite him with his mouth. Here Isaiah appears to be saying that the words of Christ would smite the sinner or adversary. In the case of the sinner, the words of Christ could have two different outcomes. First, the sinner could be convinced of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Christ and find salvation or second, the sinner could be judged to his detriment. In terms of Satan, he will be cast off.

What is interesting about Verse 8, however, is the exact language used by Isaiah which is "I will smite him with the strength of my mouth." This statement has several possible meanings. It could mean that sinners will be judged by the law that comes from the mouth of the Lord, but the more likely interpretation would be that we will be judged by the words given to us by the Lord's prophets. This certainly reflects back to Verse 4 that states Isaiah has been given the tongue of the learned that was given to him by the Lord. Also, in Verse 10, Isaiah is clear that his words are the words of the Lord and need to be obeyed.

Verse 9 tells us that the prophet, who was not rebellious, neither turned away his back (see verse 5) will be helped by his Lord, but those who have been critical of the Lord's servant will be destroyed.

Verse 11 describes those who are sinners who reject the word of the Lord. Note that they have created their own fire and the "sparks" from their own fire. Now the Lord is clear that his hand is now extended and the sinner (now judged) will lie down in sorrow, meaning he will encounter the second death of being unable to progress.

Contrast Verse 11 with Verse 2 where the Lord says that his hand is not shortened and that he can deliver, but after the sinner has rejected the words of the Servant of the Lord, and he dies (lies down), then death is certain and the Lord can no longer deliver or redeem.

In the following chapter 8 of 2 Nephi, Jacob quotes Isaiah 51 and 52 and addresses the restoration of the gospel in the last days, including the restoration of  Israel.

In chapters 9 and 10, Jacob makes an interpretation of chapters 6 through 8 and expounds the meaning of Isaiah's words. As stated before, it is probably a good approach to read chapters 9 and 10, before chapters 6 through 8.