Midterm 2 Study Guide PDF

Preview

Summary

filled in exam study guide for exam 2...

Description

Isaiah 304 Exam #2-Study Guide Byron R. Merrill

People and Places Edom: The name means red. Red (Name of Esau) of his descendants of their country in Mount Seir. This country lay south of the Dead Sea, having Moab on the north and the Dead Sea on the northwest. It was not included within the limits of the land of Israel. From the time of the Maccabees it was known as Idumea (meaning The Garden of Eden). The original inhabitants were “the children of Seir,” (or Horites), and were probably dwellers in holes or caverns. It passed by conquest into the possession of the descendants of Esau; and mention is made of the blood relationship between the Israelites and the Edomites. In spite of the kinship there seems to have been great mutual hatred, and wars were of constant. The Edomites spoke a language that closely resembled Hebrew. (Isaiah 11:14; 34:5,6) The world. Referred to as Idumea, another name for Edom. When used in Isaiah, it usually refers to the wicked and the wickedness of the world precipitating destruction. But more specifically, a county in Mt. Seir south of the Dead Sea. Moab: A land in Old Testament times located east of the Dead Sea. The Moabites were descendants of Lot and were related to the Israelites. They spoke a language similar to Hebrew. There was constant warfare between the Moabites and the Israelites (Isaiah 15:1,2,4,8,9; 16:7) Will be conquered by Assyrians (and shaved). They would appeal to Jerusalem for help but not be trusted because of past wickedness (ch. 16). Shebna: a leading official in the royal courts of Judah, had become proud and wicked and thus had been rejected by the Lord. A scribe. (Isaiah 36:3,11, 22; 22:15,16,17,18; 37:2) Advisor to Hezekiah replaced by Eliakim due to unrighteousness (built sepulcher for himself). Ch. 22:15. Shebna was a type of the apostate people in Israel. Assyrians: An ancient empire which, with its rival Babylon, ruled……≥≥ much of the old states of Syria and Palestine throughout most of Old Testament times. Even though the Assyrians were a major power from the mid-12th century B.C. until the close of the 7th century B.C., they were never able to

build a stable political structure. They ruled by terror, crushing their enemies by fire and sword or weakening them bp deporting large portions of a population to other parts of their empire. Their subjects never ceased to be their foes, and the whole course of the empire was marked by incessant revolts. (Isaiah 19:23; 36; 37) Assyria and Babylonia: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/assyria-andbabylonia Great Empire and world power in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Tool of the Lord to destroy people/punish the Israelites. Destroyed by Babylon. Never actually conquered Jerusalem. They never conquered Judah.

Cyrus: The first king of the Persians and Medes. He captured Babylon and overthrew the Chaldean dynasty (of which Nabonidus was the last king, with Belshazzar his son as commander-in-chief). He issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to the land of Judah and rebuild the temple, possibly as a token of gratitude for assistance given to him in his conquest. Fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, thus partially ending the Babylonian captivity. Isaiah’s prophecy was made about 180 years before the king’s action. (Isaiah 44:28; 45) King of Persian Empire. Conquered Babylon and sacked the tomb of King Nebuchadnezzar. He allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls and Temple. Phoenicians: The coastland extending from the Philistine territory to the mouth of the Orontes. The Phoenicians were a Semitic race, their language closely resembling Hebrew. They were a great commercial people, distributing the wares of Egypt and Babylon, and having trading stations all over the Mediterranean, Carthage being the most important. Their territory was never conquered by the Israelites, but many Israelite kings, including David, Solomon, and Ahab, entered into alliances with them for purposes of trade. Phoenicia consisted of a number of small states ruled by the kings of the great cities, but the Hebrews had most to do with the people of Tyre and Sidon. It was partially conquered by Assyria and Persia and was finally merged in the empire of Alexander the Great. Phoenician religion (see Ashtaroth; Baal) was a nature worship of a very sensuous kind, and its influence over the Israelites was disastrous, especially after the marriage of Ahab to Jezebel, a Phoenician princess. North east of Judah, they specialized in seafare and shipbuilding. King of Tyre (southern part of Phoenicia) helped build a temple. Rabshakeh: (Isaiah 36:2,4,11,12,13,22; 37:4,8) Messenger of King Sennacherib. Sent from Lachish. Spoke to servants of Hezekiah, Eliakim, at the walls of Jerusalem. Spoke in Hebrew tongue and blasphemed the name of God. When asked to speak in Syriac he cried louder in

Hebrew. He threatened Jerusalem and condemned Hezekiah for destroying satellite temples.

Egypt: A country in the northeastern corner of Africa. Much of Egypt is barren and desolate. Most of the inhabitants live in the Nile Valley, which stretches some 550 miles (890 kilometers). Ancient Egypt was rich and prosperous. Great public works were built, including canals for irrigation; strong cities for defense; and royal monuments, especially pyramid tombs and temples, which are still among the wonders of the world. For a time, the Egyptian government was an imitation of the patriarchal order of the priesthood Abraham and Joseph were led to Egypt to save their families from famine: Joseph was sold into Egypt: Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt: Egypt symbolized evil: An angel told Joseph to flee with Mary and Jesus into Egypt). (Isaiah 7:18; 11:16; 19:1; 20:4,5; 30:2,3; 36:6,9; 52:4) Sought an alliance with Judah, warned against by Isaiah. They never followed through with any of their agreements. Represents worldly strength; powerful; eventually destroyed by Assyria. Prophecy: Israel shall be a terror to Egypt (fulfilled in modern days). Hezekiah: A righteous king of the nation of Judah in the Old Testament. He reigned for twenty-nine years, during the time that Isaiah was the prophet in. Isaiah assisted him in reforming both church and state. He suppressed idolatry and reinstated the temple services. Hezekiah’s life was extended fifteen years through prayer and faith). The early part of his reign was prosperous, but his rebellion against the king of resulted in two Assyrian invasions: the first is described in Isaiah 10:24–32, the second. In the second invasion, Jerusalem was saved by an angel of the Lord. (Isaiah chapters 1,10, 36, 37, 38, 39) Tunnel of Hezekiah - An elaborate engineering scheme extending about 1770 feet through limestone rock, bringing the waters of Gihon spring inside the walls of Jerusalem to the pool of Siloam. The tunnel was built in the days of Hezekiah, about 701 B.C., as a defense against possible attack from the Assyrian army under Sennacherib . Workmen dug from both ends, in a zigzag course, until they met. A dramatic account of the meeting of the workmen is told by an inscription carved in stone near the Siloam end of the tunnel. It reads: “The boring through is completed. Now this is the story of the boring through. While the workmen were still lifting pick to pick, each toward his neighbor, and while three cubits remained to be cut through, each heard the voice of the other who called his neighbor, since there was a crevice in the rock on the right side. And on the day of the boring through the stonecutters struck, each to meet his fellow, pick to pick, and there flowed the waters to the pool for a thousand and two hundred cubits, and a hundred cubits was the height of the rock above the heads of the stonecutters.”The inscription has been removed from its original location and is now kept in the Turkish Archaeological Museum at Istanbul. The tunnel is still in use today.

Son of Ahaz. King of Judah and a righteous man. Vassal King to the Assyrian Empire and made plans to rebel. stricken with bad health and prayed unto the Lord. Life lengthened 15 years. Rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and built a tunnel to channel water to the city. Had all the little temples destroyed to prevent people from worshipping idols in them; made the people come to the Jerusalem temple so he could make sure they weren’t corrupting it.

Eliakim: Means God raiseth up. Son of Hilkiah and master of Hezekiah’s household. (Isaiah 22:20; 36:3,22,11; 37:2) Isaiah prophesied of this man who is a type of Christ. Also a servant of Hezekiah when the Assyrians attempt to capture Jerusalem. His name means “my God shall be lifted up.” He replaced Shebna as advisor to king but then he was eventually brought down when he became wicked (symbolizes Christ, who was brought down to death). Nail was removed, fell down from his position. Ch. 22 Nebuchadnezzar: The great king of Babylon (604–561 B.C.), son of Nabopolassar, the founder of the empire); defeats Necho, king of Egypt, at Carchemish and drives the Egyptians from Syria; subdues Judah; besieges Jerusalem and takes it, carrying away the king and people. For his relations with Daniel, by whom his dreams were interpreted. He was for a time smitten with madness and on his recovery acknowledged God’s power and goodness. King of Babylon. King of Babylon. Built hanging gardens. Actually conquered Judah (took Daniel and the others into Babylon). (compared to Lucifer because he’s so wicked). Was killed by Cyrus when Cyrus (king of Persia) defeated Babylon. Philistines: A tribe that originally came from Caphtor (Crete, or perhaps part of Egypt)) and occupied before the days of Abraham, the rich lowland on the Mediterranean coast from Joppa to the Egyptian desert. They formed a confederation of five chief cities, namely, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, each governed by its “lord.” For many years there was a struggle for supremacy between them and the Israelites, Philistine power being at its height at the time of Saul’s death but rapidly declining during the reign of David. They were conquered by Tiglathpileser in 734 B.C. Their country later formed part of the Persian Empire; in New Testament times it was annexed to the Roman province of Syria. Strangely enough the name of the territory of these enemies of the Jews has become one familiar title (Palestine) for all of the Holy Land. (Isaiah 2:6; 9:12; 11:14) Nation south of Judah. Heathen nation. False gods. Wicked. Power at height at time of Saul’s death. Struggle for supremacy between them and

Israelites. Moabites: descendants of Lot, friends of Israel but enemies of Judah, Assyria conquers Moab, Ruth the most famous Moabite, destruction of Moab- flee to strong cities which have become weak, try to create peace with Judah but too late because destruction is upon them, deathbed repentance denounced in relation to the Moabites Medes: (Isaiah 13:17 -23) heathen nation who later joined with Persia. Helped destroy Babylon. Sennacherib: Upon his accession, Hezekiah, king of Judah, tried to throw off the Assyrian yoke. Sennacherib accordingly invaded Judah and took some of the fenced cities; sent messengers from Lachish, demanding Hezekiah’s subjection; sent another letter; his army was destroyed; he was slain by his sons. He lived in Nineveh, which was the capitol of Assyria for over two hundred years. (Isaiah 36:1; 37:17,21,37) King of Assyria. Killed by his two sons while worshiping his false god. Laid seige on Judah and Jerusalem.

Concepts Baalism: The word most often associated with idolatry in the Old Testament is Baal. The gods of a people—in the plural—may be referred to as Baalim, Thus, Baalism refers to the worship of anything or anyone other than the true and living God. To actually worship the false “host of heaven” watch the “signs of heaven”, burn incense to the “sun, and to the moon, and to the planets” (—the word for planets here is mazzaroth, or, more precisely, the twelve signs of the zodiac), and to count months or be “observing times” were all forms of idolatry. In the manner that these practices were followed, they supplanted the true God and his prophets with oracles, imagined signs, and other false significations. In Babylon, idolatrous Israelites worshiped a “queen of heaven.” On this subject, Isaiah wrote: “Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.” (Isa. 26; 47:13–14.) A male sun-god worshiped principally in Phoenicia but also worshiped in different ways in various places: by the Moabites as Baal-peor at Shechem as Baal-berith, at Ekron as Baal-zebub. Baal may be the same as Bel of Babylon and Zeus of Greece. The word Baal expresses the relationship between a lord and his slave. The usual symbol for Baal was a bull. Ashtoreth was the goddess generally worshiped along with Baal. Baal was sometimes combined with another name or word to indicate a

connection with Baal, such as a place where he was worshiped or a person with attributes like those of Baal. Later, because Baal came to have very evil meanings, the word Bosheth replaced it in those combined names. Bosheth means “shame.” false religion that ensnared many Israelites because it was an easy explanation for the seasons and gave them something more immediate to rely on that God. Based on the mythology of Baal, Asterte and mat, where Mat (god of death) kills Baal, beginning fall and winter, and then Asterte (goddess of fertility) kills Mat and brings Ball back to life

The “wise farmer” allegory: Chapter 28: 23-29 ch. 28 of Isaiah, also includes Precious Cornerstone and “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little” Lord knows each of us and will plant where we need to be and harvest us in a manner that will be most useful for us and those around us

Precious Cornerstone: Ch. 28- Christ, who will bring righteousness and mercy, as well as judgment upon those who reject the Lord Interpretation of Ariel prophecy: Ariel means the Alter of God – the place of burning. Jerusalem is Ariel and God is going to burn it. (Isaiah 29) dualistic-ll ch. 29- refers to both the Jews and the Nephites, the Bible and the Book of Mormon, “speak out of the ground, as a voice low out of the dust, as one that hath a familiar spirit”, Ariel means altar of the Lord or the place of burningused here to foreshadow Jerusalem’s destruction by fire Ensign/standard: ch.18 and others- all to gather the righteous, represents the mercy of the Lord, raised upon the mountains, representing the House of the Lord and Mount Zion “Shadowing with wings”: Ch. 18- referring to the American continent. Joseph Fielding Smith and Hyrum Smith interpreted this phrase as a reference to the Americas and the latter-day gathering. Has to do with the great righteousness and glory that will come forth, and the people and those they convert will be given to the Lord as a present upon Mount Zion 1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: 2 That sendeth ambassadors (missionaries) by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto

(scattered Israel); a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet (bearing testimony of the Gospel), hear ye.

Deeds of Hezekiah: Religious reforms by destroying satellite temples that had gone astray, worked to repair the walls of Jerusalem, built a water tunnel into the city (Isaiah 22:11 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/isa/22?lang=eng), very righteous- prayed for and had his life extended 15 years, prayed for deliverance of Israel, sired Manasseh who became an extremely wicked king. Hezekiah listened to the prophets (Isaiah), whereas his son Manasseh killed Isaiah. ‘defile’ the earth: Isaiah 24:5- great wickedness of people defiles the earth- breaking the everlasting covenant

Possible Essays 1. In what ways is the material in Isaiah chapters 36-39 different than the material elsewhere in the book of Isaiah? Why might this be the case? It is prose, whereas the rest of Isaiah is in verse. These chapters tell the story of God fulfilling His promises to deliver Judah. They show His mercy and His dependability. The story told is Sennacherib laying siege to Jerusalem, but the Lord miraculously slaying 185,000 Assyrian soldiers overnight. 2. Expound on the concepts presented in Isaiah 28, defining the terms “precept,” “line,” and “here a little, there a little.” Describe how these apply to two specific modern-day commandments. Precept = Principle. E.g. God’s name is holy Line = Commandment. E.g. Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain Little = How to follow. E.g. Don’t ever say His name out loud. The Jews keep this commandment to this day. These can be taken a bit too far-- “fence laws” around the commandments. Isaiah 28:13 - But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. -Ex. Precept = God is clean and pure, Line = #7 Don’t commit adultery or keep law of chastity, little = curfew, don’t date until 16. 3. Explain the essential elements of the laws of justice and mercy. Why was

Jesus both willing and able to provide the atoning sacrifice to fulfill the requirements of both justice and mercy? What insights does Isaiah give about the atonement? We can apply the atonement by repentance. Cities in Isaiah are destroyed for wickedness unless they repent. Law of justice – has to be satisfied for wrongdoing. Suffer for sins. - Law of Mercy – someone can take the pain for you if you repent. - Ex. Isaiah 36-39 Jerusalem repents and they are saved from the Assyrians. Even if we mess up, we can repent and be forgiven. Always. -Ex. Isaiah 16: 5 In mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. -Ex. Isaiah 42: 6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand. He will bring his law and his justice and be a light unto the Gentiles. - Christ was willing because He was obedient and always did the will of his Father. He knew it was the only way for all of us to return to God. He had great love fort the Father and for us. - Insights: That it works for everyone, even the very wicked. When the Israelites are taking council from the Egyptians, Isaiah says that the Lord will not fight their battles for them if they are relying on their own strength. It’s the same with the Atonement, if we are trying to do everything on our own and not trusting in and relying on Christ, we will not receive the enabling power of the Atonement. 4. What are some of the key groups, dates and events in both the scattering and gathering of the House of Israel? How have Isaiah’s teachings helped you better understand the elements in these pivotal events in Heavenly Father’s plan? Events:  Chapter 18: The Lord will raise the gospel ensign, send messengers (missionaries) to His scattered people, and gather them to Mount Zion. Refers to our day!!  Restoration of the Gospel and sending forth of missionaries  Coming of Jesus Christ, somewhere in the future Groups:  Assyrians  Israel  Babylonians Dates:  721 BC - Assyrians conquer Israel and scatter the northern kingdom. The Lord protects Judah so that Assyria does not conquer them!!!  587 BC - Jerusalem falls to Babylon and its people are taken into exile. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(597_BC))  Persians let Jews come back to Jerusalem  April 6, 1830 - Restoration of the Gospel. The true Church begins to send out missionaries to gather Israel through baptism.  ??? - The second coming

Through Isaiah, the Lord revealed...