2 Nephi 20

[pam]

2 Nephi 20

Chiasmus

Chiasmus: Style of writing that consists of arranging a series of words or ideas in one order and repeating it in reverse order. The main idea is at the turning point where the second half begins.

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 [multitudes]—only a remnant returns (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)

Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, 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. Even many prominent Bible scholars today know little about chiastic forms beyond the name and a few passages where they might be found. The possibility of Joseph Smith’s noticing the form accidentally is also remote, since most biblical passages containing inverted word orders have been rearranged into natural word orders in the King James translation. Even had he known of the form, he would still have had the overwhelming task of writing original, artistic chiastic sentences….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 of an ancient culture veritably substantiated?

John W. Welch, Book of Mormon Authorship, ed. Noel B. Reynolds [Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1982], 41-42

Assyria and the Last Days

The first portion of this chapter prophesies of the coming destruction of Assyria, and the last part compares this destruction to what will happen to the wicked in the last days.

Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Old Testament [salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 289

Judah was the hypocritical nation referred to in Isaiah 10:6. It would be brought down, for “the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled” (Isa. 5:15). In Isaiah 10, we see how God’s divine purpose was accomplished, even though the principal agent by which it was done was evil. God used the Assyrians to bring about his judgments on Judah. The Assyrians intended to conquer and plunder (Isa. 10:7-11, 13-14), but God intended to humble his hypocritical, proud, and rebellious people (Isa. 10:5-6). They both intended to devastate Judah, though their reasons differed. Still, God empowered the Assyrians to do it (cf. Deut. 28:47-52).

Ahaz’s successor was the faithful king Hezekiah, who vainly tried to turn his people back to God after his father had led them astray (see Isa. 36-37; 2 Kgs. 18-19). The Assyrian king Sennacherib rightly claimed that God had called him to attack Judah (Isa. 36:10). Thus, he “came up against all the defenced [fortified] cities of Judah, and took them” (Isa. 36:1)….Sennacherib glorified himself by crediting his mighty armies and superior leaders for his victory over Judah; he boasted, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent” (Isa. 10:13).

The Lord had foretold what would happen if the Assyrians took the honor to themselves: “When the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks” (Isa. 10:12)….The Lord humbled Sennacherib by devastating his army and preserving Jerusalem intact, in answer to the faith of Hezekiah and his people (Isa. 37:33-37).

In chapter 10 (vv. 20-27), Isaiah again referred to the day when a remnant would escape and return, a theme reflected in the name of his son Shear-jashub (Isa. 7:3; 10:21-22).

Keith A. Meservy, Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4, Ed. Kent P. Jackson, [salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 99-100

The scattering occurred in three primary phases: (1) the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of ten of the tribes of Israel (c. 722 B.C.); (2) the Babylonian captivity of the kingdom of Judah (c. 587 B.C.); and (3) the destruction of the Judean state and second temple by Rome (A.D. 66-70). While other cases of scattering occurred, these phases accomplished the Lord’s purposes of punishing his covenant people by scattering them; but he mercifully made preparation for gathering their descendants in the latter years when they “come to the knowledge of their Redeemer” (2 Ne. 6:8-14).

Douglas A. Steward, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. [New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992], 2:708