There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse[1],
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither
reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of
the earth;
(2 Nephi
21: 1-4)[2]
Equity
for the Meek of the Earth
This is yet another example of a Messianic
verse from the Prophet Isaiah. It refers to Jesus Christ, a literal descendant
of King David. During His lifetime, he did minster among the poor and meek of
the earth. He healed and fed and taught those who answered His call to follow
Him. He was and is the antithesis of the selfishness of which Isaiah spoke in
chapter ten. We can get closer to Heaven by following His example than through
any other way. He was criticized by many in His day for spending time with the
poor, needy and even sinful of the earth.
He taught, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they
that are sick. (Matthew 9: 12) The irony of this
statement is that all of us are sick! As King Benjamin would later say, Are
we not all beggars? (Mosiah 4: 19) The answer is, of
course, we all are. To put it in the vernacular, we all live in glass houses
and, as such, have no business throwing stones.
Only the Lord knows men’s hearts. Who are we to judge another when we,
ourselves, walk imperfectly?[3] In
the words of the hymn, In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that they eye
can’t see. Let us follow His example in our response to others, learning to
love our neighbor as He loves us.
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