Commenting on the absence of Isaiah chapter 1 in the Book of Mormon, one
anti-Mormon author wrote:
The first chapter of
Isaiah contains a famous verse, “Come let us reason together…though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be made white as wool; though they be as red as
crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Could it be that the Book of
Mormon author questioned the authenticity of this famous verse? In a computer
search, I could not find this important verse quoted by any Mormon leaders
until 1880! Apparently, this verse was far from the minds of the early Mormon
leaders. (Matthew A. Paulson, Breaking
the Mormon Code: A Critique of Mormon Scholarship Regarding Classic Christian
Theology and the Book of Mormon [Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, 2006,
2009], 266)
Firstly, it is almost universally accepted, even by conservative scholars,
that chapter 1 of the book of Isaiah was added to the book, during or after the
exile. Therefore, it is not problematic that it is not quoted in the Book of
Mormon (in fact, it is a strike in favour of its verisimilitude!). As one
commentary that Paulson elsewhere referenced in his book noted:
It was prefixed, not by Isaiah, but by a
post-exilic editor. Isaiah, in accordance with the prominence given by him to
Jerusalem throughout his prophecies (1:21ff; 3:16ff. (4:3ff.) 10:32ff; 22:1ff;
28:17ff; 29:1ff; 30:19ff.), speaks of Jerusalem
and Judah (3:1, 8; 5:3; 22:21: occasionally elsewhere, 2 K 24:20; Ezr 2:1);
in the title, as in 2:1 and, e.g., 2
K 18:22; 2 Ch 34:3, 8, the order is Judah
and Jerusalem. A contemporary Jew would have had no occasion to add to the
list of kings the explanatory clause kings
of Judah (cp. Jer 1:2f.; Mic 1:1); an editor looking back on the monarchy
as a vanished institution might well do so. It is doubtful, too, whether Isaiah
would have applied the term vision to
his collected prophecies (see below). The period of Isaiah’s prophetic activity
may be correctly described, though this is not certain (cp. 6:1 n.), as beginning
in the reign of Uzziah: and the title is certainly correct in extending the
period into the reign of Hezekiah (cp. chs. 36–39): but Judah and Jerusalem is an inadequate description of the scope of
Isaiah’s teaching, still more of chs. 1–39; chs. 13–23 contain a series of
oracles directed against foreign nations; and even within chs. 1–12 at least
one prophecy (9:7–10:4) is primarily concerned with Ephraim. (George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, I-XXXIX
[International Critical Commentary; New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1912], 1)
Secondly, Paulson is guilty of lazy “research,” for had he bothered to
read Doctrine and Covenants, he would see similar verbiage therein. Note
D&C 71, a revelation dated December 1831, instructing Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon, to interact with, and refute, critics in public and private
settings:
Wherefore, confound
your enemies; call upon them to meet you, both in public and in private; and
inasmuch as ye are faithful their shame shall be made manifest. Wherefore, let
them bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord. Verily, thus saith the
Lord unto you—there
is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. (D&C 71:7-9)
Thirdly, for
other pre-1880 quotations of Isa 1:18, note the following:
Heber
C. Kimball (September 11, 1859)
Now, God
says, in another part of his word, that he will reason with us. But how will he do this, unless
we are submissive like clay in the hands of the potter? He says he will do it
before the world, the philosophers, the kings, and the nobles. He says he will
do it before all these, if we will be subject to him. We have all been to see a
theatrical performance; but you don't see it, except you look. Well, a prompter
is there; for sometimes the performers forget their pieces: then the prompter
is ready to help them out, as he stands behind the veil. Just so it is with
angels. They are not in sight; we do not see them; but in the very hour that we
need them they are here as the ministers of the covenant to inspire and guide
us aright. I know this, gentlemen, just as well as I know that I am here today:
I know it by the senses that God has given me. (JOD 7:167)
George
Q. Cannon (April 6, 1879)
I know I am touching now upon what many
people consider a tender spot. Say they, “The decision of the Supreme Court has
arranged all this.” Yes, but it will not stay arranged. Let me tell you, that
wrong may prevail and right may apparently be crushed; but right must at last
prevail and claim its own in spite of laws, of decisions, of mandates, and
everything that man can utter. I am talking now not respecting law; I am not
talking respecting tradition; I am not talking about “Mormon” plural marriage
or patriarchal marriage; I am talking about men and women, brethren and sisters
as such. Come let us reason together;
let us talk together, not as religionists, not as “Mormons,” not as
monogamists, not as polygamists, not as citizens of Christendom, but as men and
women, the children of God, as brethren and sisters of the one family. Let us
talk together face to face, in plainness, in simplicity, without allowing
tradition to have weight with us, to blind our understandings. It is in this
spirit that I wish to talk upon this subject. (JOD 20:199)
Again, this
is only representative of the shoddy “scholarship” one finds in Paulson’s book.
For more, see:
