“The Bill of Your Mother’s Divorcement”

Meaning for Isaiah's audience: Israel did not always enjoy unbridled prosperity. The Abrahamic Covenant may have placed them in the position of being the chosen of the one true God, but it did not ensure continued bliss. As with Job's wife who urged him to "curse God and die," (Job 2:9), Israel would often blame their woes on the absence of their God. Isaiah has the Lord clarify the matter of who left whom.

In the matter of the relationship between God and Israel, the Lord reminds Israel that he has not gone anywhere. Thus the Lord asks if he has given Israel a bill of divorcement, or which of any legal means of separation he has enacted. The answer, of course, is none of them. In the last sentence the Lord clearly highlights the reason for the distance between Israel and God; their own transgressions have alienated them from their God - who remains faithful.

"In the first verse, the Lord asks to see the bill of divorcement between him and Israel. Alluding to the law of divorce given in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which requires a formal bill of divorcement when a man puts away his wicked wife, the Lord asks a rhetorical question because he knows he has never given such a bill to his beloved. Although they are separated, they are not divorced. (Hosea, a contemporary of Isaiah, used the same analogy in his prophecy; see Hosea 1.)

Furthermore, the Lord avers that he has not sold Israel into bondage and captivity as some fathers did in times of severe economic hardship. In the time of Isaiah, if a man was pressed by his creditors, he had the possibility of relieving his debt by selling his children as slaves. (Ex. 21:7; Neh. 1-5; Matt. 18:25.) And if he died, a creditor might take his children as payment. (2 Kgs. 4:1.) This slavery was not permanent; the person was indentured to work for a fixed number of years. In answer to the question "To whom has the Lord ever been in debt?" Isaiah answers that the Lord is indebted to no one and therefore has not been forced to sell Israel; Israel's separation and captivity is her own fault." (Ludlow, Victor L. Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet. Deseret Book, 1982, p. 420.)

Meaning for Jacob's audience: There is no evidence in the Book of Mormon that Nephi's people were in general apostasy at this time, so this particular verse does not have the immediate relevance that similar Isaiah verses did when Nephi cited them to Laman Lemuel. If the context of this sermon is a fairly recently formed community of gentiles who have been included in with the lineage of Israel, it may be that this serves as a reminder to them of the strength of the covenant with God, and covenant that Nephi would have expected to continue to be his birthright as a descendant of Israel.