Pride Goes Before the Fall
Before we talk about the
fate of the proud at the coming of the Lord, I want to note something that I
find interesting. The writings of Isaiah
from which Nephi and Jacob quote were found on the brass plates. These plates
pre-date any translation we have had since then. The Septuagint, translated from the Greek,
has the phrase all the ships of the sea. The Hebrew
translation as found in the King James Version of the Bible has the phrase all
the ships of Tarshish. The Book of Mormon has both these
phrases, which leads me to believe that Isaiah included both in his original writing.
It was common among the Hebrews to cite parallel phrases in this way, stating
the first phrase followed by a second phrase meaning, essentially, the same as
the first. Some Biblical scholars believe that the phrase all the
pleasant pictures refers to the ancient Egyptian barges that floated
down the Nile. If so, that would be yet another example of parallelism. I think
this triple reference underscores the fact that, when the Lord comes, no one
can run away from him as Jonah tried to do. God will not only visit the trees
and mountains of the land; He will visit all of the sailing vessels on the
waters as well.
Pride is a serious
offense before the Lord. When we
aggrandize ourselves, we are not open to either learning from our mistakes or
repenting of those mistakes. The Savior
stated it succinctly when He said, whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased; and he that
shall humble himself shall be
exalted. (Matthew 23: 12) A powerful lesson for us all.
The show of their countenance doth witness
against them, and doth declare their sin to be even as Sodom, and they
cannot hide it. Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto
themselves! (2 Nephi 13: 9)[1]
Sin Even as Sodom
The sad tale of Sodom’s fate is told in
Genesis, chapter nineteen. In that day, Sodom and her neighboring city, Gomorrah,
were two of the most wicked cities in the known world. Because wickedness
spreads like cancer, the Lord told the Patriarch Abraham that He would destroy
these evil cities. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, had chosen to live in Sodom. One night, two messengers[2]
from God came to Lot’s home. Lot invited them in and fed them. He recognized them for who they were. Later that night, a group of men came to
Lot’s door demanding that he send out these two beautiful men that they might know
them.[3] Lot
shut and locked his door. It was then that the messengers told Lot to take his
family and flee Sodom. Lot tried to warn his sons-in-law, but they mocked
him. In the end, it was just Lot, his
wife, and their two daughters still living at home that left Sodom. That very
day, those cities were destroyed in a hail of fire and brimstone.
The people of Isaiah’s days would have
grown up hearing about the sins of Sodom. The fact that the prophet compared
Jerusalem to Sodom spoke volumes about the sins of which they were guilty. In
addition to a variety of sexual sins, the people of Israel beat God’s people
to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor.[4] Is
it any wonder that both Israel and Judah were destroyed?
[1] See Isaiah 3
[2] The Old Testament
calls them angels, but the Hebrew root word means, more accurately, messengers.
[3] In a sexual sense
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