Again, Jehovah speaks of the isles of the sea. This time, the isles of the sea are anthropomorphically addressed. Jehovah has heard them, or has heard the righteousness of the people on them. For Nephi, Jehovah promised to hear his people who were, Nephi believed, literally upon the isles of the sea. The Hebrew use of “isles of the sea” was for any land with a coast. Nephi was dramatically aware that he had arrived on a coast, therefore on an isle of the sea. He saw that connection based on the coast, and not any attempt to sail around the land mass to know that it would have been our modern definition of an island.
For Nephi, the desolate heritages would have been those gentiles he encountered upon the land. The gospel brought them light who had previously sat in darkness. The blessings of the gospel would be upon them.
The specific blessings that they should not hunger nor thirst would have been seen as part of the promise of the land. Those who followed Jehovah would prosper in the land, upon conditions of their righteousness.
In a final gathering, they would “come from far … from the north and from the west.” Nephi saw a final gathering of his people in the vision he had of the future that came during the vision of the Tree of Life.