BOM 2 Nephi 17

Today’s reading — 2 Nephi 17 (= Isaiah 7) — contains, in verse 14, one of the most famous of all messianic prophecies:

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

It’s already quoted as applying to Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew 1:23, and it’s actually difficult for me to read it aloud without slipping into the cadence of Händel’s Messiah.

But it has seemed obvious to me for many years now that the initial fulfillment of the prophecy — which, I readily admit, can also be read as a type and a shadow of a far greater and more significant fulfillment yet to come — occurred roughly during the  time of Isaiah himself, and, perhaps, in the person of Isaiah’s own son.

Consider the context, and this will be obvious:

The political situation is that Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, have formed an alliance and have launched an attack against King Ahaz of Judah, the monarch of the southern kingdom (verse 1).  Their goal is to overthrow the Davidic house and to place a puppet king of their own choosing on the throne in Jerusalem (verse 6).  And, naturally, this has Ahaz and the royal house of Judah deeply concerned (verse 2).

So the Lord sends Isaiah to tell Ahaz and the leaders of Judah that they shouldn’t worry.  Within 65 years, he says there won’t even be a northern kingdom of Israel.  (See verses 3-9.)

Moreover, he adds, if Ahaz — not known to be especially pious or particularly devoted to prophets — doesn’t believe Isaiah’s prediction (which is, anyway, about a very distant time), he’s to ask for a confirmatory sign (verses 10-11).

But Ahaz, out of real or feigned piety (perhaps just to get Isaiah to go away), refuses to ask for a sign (verse 12).

At which point, Isaiah says, effectively, “Alright, so you won’t ask for a sign?  Then the Lord himself will give you one, whether you like it or not” (verse 13).

Whereupon there follows a description of what the sign will be:  Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

But that’s not all there is to it:

Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good.  For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.  (See verses 15-16.)

In other words, before the child who is to be born of the virgin even reaches the age of moral accountability and judgment, both Rezin and Pekah will be gone.

Consider, in this light, the first four verses of the next chapter, tomorrow’s reading, 2 Nephi 18 (= Isaiah 8):

Moreover, the word of the Lord said unto me: Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen, concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me: Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  For behold, the child shall not have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, before the riches of Damascus and thespoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

The curious name Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Hebrew: מַהֵר שָׁלָל חָשׁ בַּז‎) — try giving that to one of your children! — means, in English,”Hurry to the spoils!” or “He has made haste to the plunder!”  (The name of Isaiah’s other son, Shear-jashub, who is mentioned in the previous chapter — Isaiah 7:3 [= 2 Nephi 17:3] — also carried a predictive message:  In English, it means, “The remnant shall return.”)

And who is “the prophetess”?  Very possibly “Mrs. Prophet,” Isaiah’s wife.  Perhaps a newly married wife, since, strictly speaking, the word almah means “young woman,” not “virgin.”

Finally, as a matter of fact, Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, did plunder both Damascus (the capital of Syria) and Samaria (the capital of Israel) between 734 BC and 732 BC.

As Isaiah himself says, at 2 Nephi 18:18 (= Isaiah 8:18), Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.

Nephi’s principle of “likening the scriptures unto ourselves” seems to me to offer a way to interpret this powerful Isaianic prophecy.  If we understand that the Lord works in recurring patterns, it’s not problematic at all to see this prediction as being fulfilled on more than one occasion.