Isaiah 4-5

Isaiah 4-5 Study Guide – to be discussed October 22

Day 1: Review Isaiah 3:24-26, Read Isaiah 4:1-4 (with footnotes 1a,d,2c,d,4a)
1. The Joseph Smith Translation and the Hebrew Bible put the text we have as Isaiah 4:1 at the end of Isaiah 3. Putting Isaiah 4:1 in this context, and using footnote 1a, why might seven women lay hold on one man?


2. Isaiah 4:2 starts a new topic. According to the chapter heading, what day is meant by the phrase, “In that day,” which begins Isaiah 4:2?


3. From Isaiah 4:2-4, describe conditions among those who remain “in that day.”



Day 2: Read Isaiah 4:5-6, D&C 45:66-69, Bible Dictionary entry, “Shechinah”
NOTE: Moroni quoted Isaiah 4:5-6 to Joseph Smith in reference to the last days. See Messenger and Advocate, Ap.1835.
4. Read the Bible Dictionary entry, “Shechinah.” What does the “cloud” by day and the “fire” by night represent? What will every home have during the Millennium?*


5. List ways we can recognize or invite the presence of the Lord in our homes today.



6. Read D&C 45:66-69. How can the glory of the Lord and the terror of the Lord reside in one place? How do these two gifts contribute to the New Jerusalem being a place of refuge?


Day 3: Read Isaiah 5:1-7 (with footnotes 1b, d, 4a, 7b,c)
7. Read Isaiah 5:1 with Isaiah 5:7. What is the vineyard of the Lord? According to the footnote to Isaiah 5:1b, what does Isaiah’s “song” or parable show?


8. What did the Lord do to protect and support his vineyard? What did he expect from it?


9. What kind of harvest did the Lord realize? What will he do, or stop doing, as a result?


Day 4. Read Isaiah 5:8-12 (with footnotes 8c, 12a,b), Micah 2:2, Amos 8:11-12
10. Read Micah 2:2 with Isaiah 5:8 and footnote 8c. What does it mean to “join house to house” or “lay field to field”?


11. A “bath” equals about 8 ¼ US gallons; an homer is 6 ½ bushels of seed; an ephah is about ½ bushel of harvest. What is the ultimate result of social injustice? See also Amos 8:11-12.


12. The harp, viol (lyre), tabret (drum) and pipe were instruments associated with worship. List one sin from Isaiah 5:11, and one sin from Isaiah 5:12, that kept Israel from knowing the Lord.



Day 5: Read Isaiah 5:13-19 (with footnotes 13b, 14a, 15a, 18a,c, 19d), 2 Peter 3:3-4
13. Why will the Lord’s people go into captivity? Why will hell need to be expanded?


14. Read the footnote to Isaiah 5:18c. How do we become tied to our sins?


15. Read the footnote to Isaiah 5:19d and 2 Peter 3:3-4. Why will some people in the last days lack faith?


Day 6: Read Isaiah 5:20-25 (with footnote 23c)
16. Give an example of how people today call evil good and good evil. (No proper names, please!)


17. List the three “woes” in Isaiah 5:20-22. How does each of these woes cause spiritual blindness?



18. Give one warning and one promise to those who rebel against the Lord?


Day 7: Read Isaiah 5:26-30 (with footnotes 26b, 30b), D&C 45:8-10, Moroni 10:27-28,1 Corinthians 14:8-9
19. Read Isaiah 5:26 with D&C 45:8-10. What is the “ensign” which has been raised in the latter days? Why is it critical to the success of the plan of salvation?


20. What descriptive phrases did Isaiah use to indicate the speed of people gathering to the ensign in the latter days?



21. Ezra Taft Benson said, “We, the members of the Church, and particularly the missionaries, have to be the “hissers,” or the tellers and testifiers, of the Book of Mormon unto the ends of the earth.” (Ensign, May 1975.) Give one example of how we can “hiss” or signal to our neighbors the need to gather for safety. See also Moroni 10:27-28.


BONUS: Read 1 Corinthians 14:8-9. Why is it important we all whistle the same tune?



*(13-26) Isaiah 4:5–6 . Zion to Be a Place of Refuge. In Doctrine and Covenants 45:66–72 , the sacred and protected status of “Zion” for the gathered Israel in the latter days is described. Doctrine and Covenants 105:31–32 speaks of how the glory of Zion shall be her defense. Isaiah compared the protecting divine influence with that experienced by Moses (see Exodus 14:19–20 ; Deuteronomy 1:33 ). Elder Orson Pratt suggested that the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy would be literal:
“The time is to come when God will meet with all the congregation of his Saints, and to show his approval, and that he does love them, he will work a miracle by covering them in the cloud of his glory. I do not mean something that is invisible, but I mean that same order of things which once existed on the earth so far as the tabernacle of Moses was concerned, which was carried in the midst of the children of Israel as they journeyed in the wilderness. . . . But in the latter days there will be people so pure in Mount Zion, with a house established upon the tops of the mountains, that God will manifest himself, not only in their Temple and upon all their assemblies, with a visible cloud during the day, but when the night shall come, if they shall be assembled for worship, God will meet with them by his pillar of fire; and when they retire to their habitations, behold each habitation will be lighted up by the glory of God,—a pillar of flaming fire by night.
“Did you ever hear of any city that was thus favored and blessed since the day that Isaiah delivered this prophecy? No, it is a latter-day work, one that God must consummate in the latter times when he begins to reveal himself, and show forth his power among the nations.” (In Journal of Discourses, 16:82.)