I always hear about keeping the commandments. But what are they? It’s not that easy to name them all. The Israelites had it wrapped up into Ten Commandments, which makes sense. But then again, it became difficult trying to figure out what it meant to keep the Sabbath day holy. Just how many steps can you walk? Turn the light on? Drive a car?

In another book of scripture, the Book of Mormon, Jesus gives the commandment to search the words of Isaiah:

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….And all things that he (Isaiah) spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.(3 Nephi 23:1-3)

It seems odd that Christ would command his followers to search the words of Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied about two time periods — the past and the future. It’s not just a history lesson of what went wrong with Israel. It’s a type and shadow of what will go wrong with the gentiles in our day. And since I am identified with the gentiles  (D & C 109:60), I want to take note. And search his words.

When studying Isaiah in the Old Testament and even the Book of Mormon that quotes Isaiah, we gentiles skip a lot of it. I think it’s partly because we think Isaiah is only talking about his time. However, Jesus makes it quite clear that searching Isaiah is his commandment — because it’s also about the last days — our time.

Nephi and Jacob gave long discourses to their people — quoting Isaiah from the brass plates that they had brought with them from Jerusalem. They explained why this was so important. If you read it, you will see a theme in Isaiah. A theme of exodus and delivery. And a promise from God to His people — the House of Israel — of whom Nephi and his people were a remnant. They had left Jerusalem on a type of exodus in which God warned them and then delivered them from coming destruction. But Isaiah tells how this theme finally ends up with God fulfilling His promise to His people who love Him. Though they are scattered, God will gather them with the help of the faithful Gentiles and they will return to their homelands. I think I have mentioned this before — it is a type of the hero journey. 

I think Isaiah is a sealed book, and as such, we need help unsealing it. We tend to believe that there must be another way for a book to come forward, but sometimes, somethings are right in front of us. Avraham Gileadi has uncovered the parallel stories in Isaiah — the past and the future. He has spent over 35 years immersed in the Hebrew language searching Isaiah. He began when he converted from Catholicism to Judaism. And continued when he converted from Judaism to Mormonism. He unwove the sealed message, and in doing so, the words of Isaiah become plain, as Nephi explained.

Dr. Gileadi’s work will render obsolete almost all the speculations of Isaiah scholars over the last one hundred years, enabling scholarship to proceed along an entirely new line, opening new avenues of approach for others to follow”—Professor Roland K. Harrison, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Canada. (ref)

And Hugh Nibley:

“Dr. Gileadi is the only LDS scholar I know of who is thoroughly competent to teach the words of Isaiah”—Professor Hugh Nibley, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. (1. 6. 2003) (ibid.)

I’ve attended webcasts on Isaiah with Avraham Gileadi. The website, IsaiahExplained.com has almost everything you need to understand Isaiah. The analytical commentary is helpful, as are the many study resources listed on the right side of the site. I also enjoyed Gileadi’s books, Isaiah Decoded and Studies in the Book of Mormon. As well as his book, Windows on the Prophecy of Isaiah.

As he has said in many of his webcasts — there’s bad news and there’s good news in the prophecies of Isaiah. We should study them until they become plain to us because they are for our time, and it is one of the commandments — search Isaiah.

 

Avraham Gileadi Interview Highlights:

7:50 Avraham’s Growing Up Years in Nazi Occupied Holland during WWII. Spiritual lessons learned.
11:00 Development of his testimony of Jesus Christ during his New Zealand childhood. Drumming in a Rock Band, and why he gave up his Rock-n-Roll career.
13:50 What lead to his love of Isaiah and why it “spoke to him.” Years in a Catholic Seminary to become a Priest.
Moving to Israel to study Hebrew and enter a Rabbinical School.
Conversion to the Book of Mormon
19:00 His conversion to the Book of Mormon.
26:00 1st Israeli Citizen to be baptized into the LDS Church. Orson Hyde dedicated Israel 99 years before on Avraham’s Birthday.
29:00 What brought Avraham to BYU – Beginning research into Isaiah
37:30 King James Bible translation problems and why his translation is better.
38:45 & 54:00 Literary Analysis – Why his work is so different from other Isaiah Scholars, and how it created both friends and enemies.
42:00 Hugh Nibley and his other mentors at BYU.
54:55 What events lead to his excommunication and How Elder Neil Maxwell later reversed it.
1:01:00 The Servant and his importance.
1:05:00 Questions from the studio audience.