Adventures in Isaiah.

[HaggisShuu]

I've been studying Isaiah for the last 2 months, and alas, most of it is still going over my head. 

So I would like to share some thoughts and gather some thoughts on Isaiah 49:8

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Thus saith the Lord⁠, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

To start off with, the header for this chapter seems to suggest that this chapter is describing the Latter-Day gathering of Israel. 
Verse 2 has some interesting commentary attached to it in Church textbooks:

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And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword⁠; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

It is suggested that the "polished shaft" is in fact Joseph Smith. As this is how Joseph Smith described himself in this famous quote:

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I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force; thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.

So if we are running with the assumption that this particular chapter is discussing the Latter-Days, I think the prophecy in verse 8 is being fulfilled through covenant making and patriarchal blessings. 
 

Making covenants in the Church allows us to partake of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant, which is one way the "earth is being established" and one way we become part of the extended family of Israel. 
What I find most fascinating though is how covenant making allows us to "inherit the desolate heritages" and I think this is fulfilled when we are declared to be part of a particular lineage in our patriarchal blessing. 
 

This may of course be a bogus interpretation, but I find the parallels quite striking. 

[laronius]

It is not unusual for these types of prophecy to have dual fulfillments, temporal and spiritual. I really like that phrase "desolate heritages." It so perfectly describes the scattering of Israel in relation to apostatizing from the ways of their righteous fathers and then temporal scattering that followed.

In the latter days, both the temporal and spiritual gatherings will and are taking place. Much of what you are describing relates to the spiritual gathering, of which covenants play a significant role.

[Carborendum]

14 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

So if we are running with the assumption that this particular chapter is discussing the Latter-Days,

This does not appear to be an assumption.  It seems pretty clear as day to any Latter-day Saint.

14 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

I think the prophecy in verse 8 is being fulfilled through covenant making and patriarchal blessings. 

More than that.  Your quote:

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I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force; thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.

Is the key.  A prophet leads.  The Saints follow.  We are given trials throughout our lives that knock off the rough edges until we become the instruments that the Lord needs us to be.  This is both generational and individual.

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You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what make us perfect.

  ― C.S. Lewis

It is different parts of the overall interpretation.  But you seem to be mixing it all up into one monolith.

Allow me to mix metaphors (see what I did there) and liken it to a painting.  We have different colors in different pixels of the painting.  They need them to be where they are.  If we simply mix all the paint colors together and spill it onto the canvas, it's just a blank canvas with paint spilled on it.

So, we must keep each detail in the proper place (keep it in its lane).  Only then, can we see the overall picture.

14 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

Making covenants in the Church allows us to partake of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant, which is one way the "earth is being established" and one way we become part of the extended family of Israel. 
What I find most fascinating though is how covenant making allows us to "inherit the desolate heritages" and I think this is fulfilled when we are declared to be part of a particular lineage in our patriarchal blessing. 

The prophecy in Ch 49 is about the establishment of the Church in the Latter-days as a preparation for the "Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord."  And verse 9 says that it is not just the mortal world we are talking about.

You might want to read the differences between Isa 49 and 1 Ne 21.

Edited yesterday at 01:03 PM by Carborendum

[zil2]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

We have different colors in different pixels of the painting.

This sentence is proof society is about to collapse.

[Carborendum]

6 minutes ago, zil2 said:

This sentence is proof society is about to collapse.

 

Yeah, I wondered how that sentence would go over.  I used some literary license.  It was more succinct than the literal, technical description of what I was trying to convey.

[zil2]

11 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

 

Yeah, I wondered how that sentence would go over.  I used some literary license.  It was more succinct than the literal, technical description of what I was trying to convey.

Uh huh.  I'm just gonna go to the store and buy some more bottled water.