2 Nephi 20 Commentary

Differences with the King James Version of Isaiah 10

4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand (KJV adds “is“) stretched out still.

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is their (“their” KJV uses “mine“) indignation.

7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but (KJV add “it is“) in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

10 As my hand hath founded (“founded” KVJ uses “found“) the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and upon (“upon” KJV uses “on“) Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things (“By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things” KJV uses “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom“); for I am prudent: and I have moved (“moved” KJV uses “removed“) the borders(“borders” KJV uses “bounds“) of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? (KJV adds “or“) Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and (KJV adds “it“) shall burn and shall (“shall” not in KJV) devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in (KJV adds “the midst of“) all the land.

29 they are gone (KJV has “over“, so do later versions of BOM) the passage; they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramath is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

Commentary

Isaiah is condemning the leadership of Israel and Jerusalem during his day for passing and enacting laws which are contrary to principles of righteousness. They use the law to cheat the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. They have only greed in their hearts and in their actions are contrary to the principles of righteousness. What will they do in the day when the Assyrian army is to come upon them? Where shall these wicked leaders flee? Their glory of building a vast, mighty, and glamorous kingdom will not be found.

Without the Lord, these wicked leaders of Israel and Judah shall be slain. But the Lord is there and ready with his arms stretched out. If they will but turn to the Lord and repent, he will take them in and protect them.

When this destruction comes to pass in Isaiah’s days, the Assyrian nation will be used as the rod and staff of the Lord’s anger. And the works of the Assyrians will be indignation – anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment.

The hypocritical nation refers to Israel. The Assyrians shall come in, take charge of the land, and will take their possessions, take the people, and leave the land as mud.

The king of Assyria does not realize that God is using him to fulfill the purpose of punishing Israel for their wickedness. Instead he boasts of his own strength and cunning.

In verse 8, the Assyrian king believed that he was the king of kings, and that his territorial princes were so mighty that they were as the kings of the neighboring nations. ^{[source 2 page 105]}

Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria, and Damascus are all neighboring kingdoms destroyed by Assyria between 740 BC and 720 BC. ^{[source 5 page 202]}

The King of Assyria boasts of the idols from his kingdom proclaiming his idols to be greater than the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria. Therefore, he proclaims he shall have his way with them.

Isaiah is proclaiming that after the king of Assyria performs his works of destruction upon Israel and Jerusalem, God will then turn things around and punish the king of Assyria and the results of his plunder.

The king of Assyria shall be boastful of his great conquests successes, and riches, for he has plundered all of the lands. He compares Israel to small helpless chicks in a nest as his army swarms the land.

The King of Assyria is no more than a tool. God makes the tools. God controls the tools. The axe or saw are not greater than the creator and controller of the tools. The rod and the staff are the King of Assyria. The rod and the staff cannot function without God. He can only do what God enables him to do.

Fatness represents prosperity. Leanness represents rough times ahead. The King of Assyria will suffer a demise apparently of his own creation.

The holy one of Israel, the light and the fire of Israel, can raise up a nation in a day, and he can destroy a nation in a day. The surviving assyrians would be so few that a child could count them.^{[source 5, page 203]}

The name of one of Isaiah’s sons is Shearjashub, which means that a remnant shall return. There are two fulfillments to this prophesy.

The first fulfillment is the historic remnant of the past who escaped from the conquest of the Assyrians. An example would be regarding the ancestral families Lehi and Ishmael in the Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi. Lehi was of the tribe of Manassah. Ishmael was of the tribe of Ephraim. Yet both families lived among the Jews in Jerusalem. When the two families intermarried, it became the marriage of Ephraim and Manassah.

The second fulfillment is on-going today.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who choose to do so are actively participating in the gathering of Israel around the world. Eventually we will build the New Jerusalem and this gathering shall become physical as well as spiritual.

Consumption equals Destruction. This is a reference to the latter-days, when the Lord performs the work of the destruction of the wicked. Much of this destruction will take place through a modern King of Assyria (Assyria being a symbol, not an actual place) also called the Beast in Revelation 13. For the Beast will be as the King of Assyria of old and reap great destructions on the world. After the fall of this Great and Spacious Building of the Beast, the Lord will finish the work in cleansing the earth for millennial reign.

God is talking to “His People” – the righteous. This applies to the days of old and to us today. Do not fear the King of Assyria (or the Beast). He will have his terrible day. But it will only be for a short time. And he shall fall.

After Assyria serves the Lords purposes in smiting Israel and Judah, he will punish them for their pride and wickedness. And will be just like when he save Gideon from the Midianites (Judges 6-7) and saved Isreal from the Egyptians when crossing the Red Sea.^{[source 2 page 111]}

This is a reference to the Messiah. The burden of the Assyrians shall be removed because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The yoke around your neck when given by Christ is easy. The burden is light. And it will lead to eternal salvation.

Isaiah foretells how the armies of the Assyrians will conquer city after city until they get to final prize of Jerusalem. Yet he will shake his hand at Jerusalem and not succeed in this conquest.^{[source 2 page 39]} This also has prophetic meaning for the future siege called Armageddon.^{[source 6 page 203]}

Historically, this prophesy was fulfilled after the war with the Assyrians.^{[source 7]} It will be fulfilled again as described in Revelation 11.^{[source 5, page 204]}

Commentary Sources

1. The website Isaiah Explained – by Avriham Gileadi.
2. The book Understanding Isaiah by Donald and Jay Parry, and Tina Peterson published by Deseret Book Company, 1998.
3. The book Annotated Edition – The Book of Mormon published by David R. Hocking and Rod Meldrum, 2018.
4. The book The Book of Isaiah – Annotated Edition eBook published by David R. Hocking, 2020.
5. Verse by Verse – The Book of Mormon by D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner, published by Deseret Book Company, 2011.
6. Isaiah Made Easier by David J Ridges, Second Edition, published by Cedar Fort, Inc., 2009.
7. Commentary of the Book of Mormon – writings from George Reynolds and Janne Sjodahl.
8. My own understanding.

Isaiah Explained

This video file was downloaded from the website at Isaiah Explained – Avraham Gileadi. He has a very detailed commentary to this chapter.

The website Isaiah Explained has this type of detailed description for all chapters of Isaiah.

Commentary from George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl taken from Commentary on the Book of Mormon published in 1955:

VERSE 1. Unrighteous Decrees. Those who make unrighteous laws and render partial judgments are denounced.

VERSE 2. To Turn Away the Needy. The victims of bad legislation and wrong judgments are generally the poor and needy; the widows and the fatherless.

VERSE 3. The Day of Visitation. A day of visitation is approaching. A day when enemies from afar will invade the country of Israel. The Lord now asks: What will ye do then ? Your Glory. Meaning, your wealth and armed soldiers. What is going to become of them ?

VERSE 4. Without Me. Without God, the defenders of the people would be humiliated by carrying burdens among the prisoners, or fall among the slain.

VERSE 5. O Assyrian. The prophecy begins with this verse and ends with chapter 22. ( Is. 12 ) The Rod. The Assyrian king would be only a rod to be used for the correction of an erring people; a staff indicating indignation.

VERSE 6. A Hypocritical Nation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, the Lord says, and charge him to take spoil and prey upon the people, and trample them down as mire in the streets.

VERSE 7. He Meaneth Not So. mission. He rejoiced in destruction, of greatness. However, the Assyrians did not understand his gloried in violence as if it were an evidence

VERSE 8. Princes… Kings. Are not, he asks, my princes kings ? Eastern potentates often called his governors and satraps kings, and themselves king of kings.

VERSES 9-11. Calno as Carchemish, etc. In his pride, the Assyrian looks over his conquests. Carchemish ( Fort of Chemosh ) was the chief city of the Hittites from 1100 to 850 B.C. It was there that Pharaoh Necho was defeated in 605 B.C., five years before Lehi left Jerusalem. See Jer. 46: 2; 2 Chron. 25:20. The Assyrian king is represented as saying, Since I have made myself the master of kingdoms, the images of which were more powerful than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, why should I not gain possession of Jerusalem and her idols ?

VERSES 12-16. I Will Punish … the King of Assyria. The Lord replies to that proud question. He says, in substance, that when he has chastised his people on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, the king of Assyria will be made to eat the fruit of his boasting. Leanness. ( v. 16 ) Literally, a “pining sickness in his fat body.” May refer to the miraculous destruction of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib. ( Is. 37: 30-38 ) In a manuscript found at Nineveh, Sennacherib has left this account of his exploits: “This Hasakijahu Jahudu, fear of the greatness of my majesty swept him away and the guards and soldiers he had scraped up to defend the city Ursalimmo ( Jerusalem ), his powerful city; their ships he sent away with thirty talents of silver ** and his daughters, the women in the palace, his slaves, male and female, to Ninua, the city of my dominion, and he sent his equerry to pay the tribute and to acknowledge his submission.” This shows to perfection the accuracy of the character drawn of the Assyrian ruler by the Prophet Isaiah.

VERSE 17. The Light of Israel. God is a light to his people, but a burning flame to his enemies. Thorns and Briers. The Assyrian armies.

VERSE 18. Forest and Fruitful Field. Another reference to his armed forces an army without standard – bearers: a disorganized mob.

VERSE 19. The Rest of the Trees Few. The rest of the soldiers will be so few that a child may count them.

VERSE 20. Him That Smote Them. The Assyrians. Israel will no longer trust their enemies, but in the Lord.

VERSES 21-23. Return here means repentance, a “return” to God. The remnant will return to him, because what he has decreed will certainly be carried out.

VERSE 26. The Slaughter of Midian. Refers to the victory of Gideon over the Midianites. ( Judges 7 ) After the Manner of Egypt. See Ex. 14.

VERSE 27. Because of the Anointing. Refers to the power of the Priesthood. The Prophet employs the figure of speech of a slave carrying a burden, whose yoke will be destroyed, because of his Priesthood. One who honors his Priesthood cannot but be a free man. See the letter of Paul to Philemon concerning Onesimus. ( vv. 8-16 )

VERSE 28. He is Come. The Prophet, in a vision, sees the Assyrian army enter the territory of Judah at Aiath, leave their carriages at Michmash; then march through the narrow pass between Michmash and Geba and camp at the latter place. The inhabitants of Rama and Gibea of Saul are panic – stricken and flee. ( v. 29 ) The people of other cities prepare to follow their example. ( vv. 30-31 ) When the Assyrians are at Nob ( v. 32 ), the fate of Jerusalem seems to be sealed, but the Lord intervenes for the salvation of his people. ( vv. 33-34 )

GENERAL NOTES

Sennacherib reigned in Assyria between 705-681 B.C. At the beginning of his reign he faced a revolt of his western dependencies, led, it seems, by Hezekiah, and supported by Egypt. In 701 he invaded Palestine and destroyed a number of cities, but at Jerusalem his army was decimated by a terrible sickness. ( 2 Kings 18:13; 19:37 ) Shortly afterwards he was assassinated and succeeded by Esarhaddon. Historians divide Assyrian history into three periods. Sennacherib belongs to the third. This period is regarded as the golden age of Assyria. The sculptured marbles, they tell us, which have been brought from the palaces of Sargon, Sennacherib and Asshurbanipal, show a skill reminding of the Greeks. During the same period, the sciences of geography and astronomy were cultivated with great diligence; studies of languages and history occupied many learned men. Modern scholars are filled with admiration, as they discover and decipher the evidences of the mental activity of the ancient Assyrians.