Avraham’s Mailbox

Question about “Judea’s” and “Jerusalem’s” Declining Food & Water

Question: I’m curious about Isaiah’s description of Judea’s and Jerusalem’s deprivation of “both staff and crutch—all food supply and water supply” in Isaiah 3:1. Where will the staff and crutch be deprived? Is it safe to assume it is here in the U.S.? We can see the lack of leadership Isaiah describes in the same …

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Question about Temple Covenants in Relation to Biblical Covenants

Question: How do LDS temple covenants relate to biblical covenants such as the Sinai Covenant, Davidic Covenant, and Abrahamic Covenant that appear so prominently in the theology of Isaiah? Answer: While temple covenants are in the nature of individual covenants that Latter-day Saints make, the covenant made at baptism—in which we take upon ourselves the …

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Question about Whether There Was More than One Isaiah

Question: The general consensus among Bible scholars is that the Book of Isaiah was written by two or more authors, but the scriptures say otherwise. How should one respond to that? Answer: Liberal scholars’ main arguments for assigning several authors to the Book of Isaiah are (1) that its three different historical settings—Israel before its …

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Question about the Name “The Lord Our Righteousness”

Question: Jeremiah 23:5–6 says that the “righteous Branch” the Lord raises up to David is called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Doesn’t that prove this verse is referring to Jesus Christ? Answer: First, a correct translation of Hebrew yhvh tzidqeinu in Jeremiah 23:6 is “Jehovah is our righteousness.” As the Hebrew language possesses no capital letters, …

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Question about the Interrelationship of God’s Covenants

Question: I’m having difficulty sorting out which laws or terms of God’s covenants apply on different spiritual levels and how these covenants connect to one another. That includes the Ten Commandments, baptism, and temple covenants. Can you clarify? Answer: Of three major covenants God made with his people and with individuals—the Sinai, Davidic, and Abrahamic …

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Question about the Fulness of the Gospel

Question: In what ways is the fulness of gospel different from the basic principles of the gospel? Answer: After we define the gospel’s basic principles as faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of transgressions, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost—the latter …

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Question about the Imperative to Understand Isaiah

Question: What is so important about understanding the words of Isaiah that the Savior makes it a commandment to search them diligently (3 Nephi 23:1)? Also, why does he call them “great”? Aren’t the words of other prophets great also, including the words of modern prophets? Answer: The fact that only one prophet appears in …

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Question about Church Members Being Gentiles or House of Israel

Question: In a class discussion, the question arose as to when Gentiles become numbered among those of the house of Israel. Many have the belief that when they are baptized and make a covenant with the Lord they are adopted into the house of Israel. And yet the scriptures indicate that collectively we are a …

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