Talk:1 Ne 10:1-5

From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.

Gerhard von Rad draws a connection between the servant songs of Second Isaiah and the coming prophet prophecy of Deuteronomy quoted here in verse 4. Part of his argument, in the wake of Wellhausen's work, is trying to draw together to comtemporaneity of the two texts (both exilic: Second Isaiah and the Deuteronomists). But he certainly draws out a rather convincing argument that the servant songs are connected to that prophecy. What is fascinating about his argument is that here Nephi/Lehi cites them side by side as connected: after making mention of the prophecy, Lehi goes on to base his prophetic exploration of these things on the language of Isaiah 40:3 (the first words of Second Isaiah). All of this raises several questions for me, not the least of which is about how Latter-day Saints should think about the Deuteronomists. I'd like to think about these questions more. --Joe Spencer 16:01, 24 April 2007 (CEST)

I've wondered whether the Deuteronomist reforms might've been a subtler shift away from the more spiritual/heavenly aspects of the Messiah toward more of a temporal/earthly(/political) emphasis, both in terms of the Messiah's role and in terms of the purpose of the Law. On this view, the Nephites would bring a relatively "uncontaminated" version of ancient scripture to the New World, perhaps rooted much more firmly in the pre-reform tradition since the reforms were relatively recent for Lehi & co., but the Old World would veer off during the centuries toward a much more distorted, earthly understanding of things that failed to preserve the ideas that the Nephites had of things. Not sure if I'm making any sense, or this idea has any merit or is just stating something obvious.... --RobertC 20:04, 24 April 2007 (CEST)

Thanks for these thoughts, Robert. That actually makes a great deal of sense. I was reading a bit yesterday about the "crisis of the exile," and it is certainly remarkable to what extent the Babylonian exile had an effect on what we regard as Israel. The curious thing is that the Nephites are at once quite radical and not very different. I think your comments provide a possibility for thinking this through. If we had some of Lehi's writings! --Joe Spencer 16:04, 25 April 2007 (CEST)