2 Nephi 7:4-7

Brant Gardner

Commentaries on Isaiah label these verses as one of the servant songs in Isaiah. This is not Jehovah speaking anymore, because we see in verse 5 that God, or Jehovah, has opened the ear of the speaker. Thus, this is a change in the speaker.

This speaker is commissioned to speak for Jehovah. He has been given the tongue of the learned, and the commission to speak to Israel. Verse 6 is one that has obvious Messianic implications. Modern Christians can see the fulfillment of prophecy here, but that would not have been an available interpretation to Israel or Jacob’s audience.

For the Nephites, this would return to the Jacob’s comments about not being ashamed of the gentiles. This servant does not resist the outsiders, even when it is difficult. In Isaiah’s dark times, the servant accepts the temporary embarrassment of the smiter, or the one who plucked off the hair, perhaps a reference to an Assyrian practice with their captives.

For Jacob’s audience, the verses say that even in difficult circumstances, there is no shame if they know in whom they trust. They may say, with the servant, that they are not ashamed.

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