The Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 7

Today we’ll be studying 2 Nephi 7, which is a continuation of the “conference talk” given by Jacob, the brother of Nephi. 

Here, Jacob reads the first of two chapters of Isaiah, as, presumably, requested by Nephi.  It is assumed that he will interpret them for the gathered masses, but, as we are going chapter to chapter, we won’t be tackling his interpretation for a while. 

This chapter speaks messianically and is comparatively short.  Here, the Lord is speaking to Israel.  He asks, “Have I cast you off forever?  Where is your mother’s writ of divorcement?”  This is fairly simple to understand if you take a look at the law of Moses.  In the law, it was acceptable for a man to divorce his wife, or to put her aside, if he discovered that she had been in a physical relationship with another man, which he could do by providing her with a document stipulating their divorce.  What’s more, in Ezra 10:2-3, the Hebrews were reproved for taking “strange” wives and encouraged to divorce them and put their children by these wives aside.  This is where this phrase comes from.  The Lord wishes to discourage them from believing they have been cast off because of anything other than what they, themselves, have done.  Later in verse 1, he confirms this by saying, “for your transgressions is your mother put away.” 

In this same verse, we note the Lord asking which of his creditors he has sold them to.  This is also a fairly common practice in Hebrew tradition, in which the children of a person in deep debt might be taken and sold into slavery to pay off the debt. (Nehemiah 5:5,8, Leviticus 25:39-40).  The Lord declares that their iniquities have caused them to sell themselves.

So, in other words, nothing the Lord or our mothers have done is responsible for the fact that we are cut off from His presence.  We, alone, are responsible for the condition of our own souls.  We, alone, have been the cause of all our own suffering.  The Lord tells us that when He arrived, there was no one there to answer the door.  However, He adds that His arm hasn’t shortened, to keep Him from saving us.  The entire earth is still His to command.

Then, in verse 6, he begins to tell us why this is.  Rather than go into detail about the Atonement of Christ, let me just say that everything the Lord went through, all the pain and the ridicule, was to be certain that his arms remained long enough to save us.

The chapter finishes out by talking to the enemies of Christ.  Who are these enemies?  Verse 9 states that the enemies of Christ are “those who shall condemn [him].”  The Lord says such will be smitten by the power of His mouth, become like a piece of old, moth-eaten clothing, and lie down in sorrow.  In verse 10, he asks which of us, having chosen to follow the Lord, has found him or herself walking in darkness, without light?  The answer, of course, is none of us.