Sunday, July 31, 2016

The Mexican Immigrants and 'Too Narrow by Reason of the Inhabitants'

   Would the prophecies of Isaiah have anything to say about the influx of immigrants from Central and South America in our day?  It has been suggested that many of those coming from south of the border are Israelites, with Native Americans descending from the House of Israel and with their blood mixing with those who came from Europe.
   So, is what is found in Isaiah 49 a likeness to what is happening in our day, or is it more than a likeness. Is it what the scripture meant.
   My wondering that it could be speaking of America increases when verse 8 refers to "isles of the sea," and I consider that is not talking, then, of Jerusalem. A Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob, said, his people lived, "upon an isle of the sea."
   That would be America, then.
  The America before Columbus: I think you might call it desolate before the Old World invasion. Native Americans lived here, but even with them here, it could be considered desolate. As the European settlers moved in, they destroyed much of the American Indian's home.
   So, when I come to Isaiah 49:18, yes, of course I wonder if it is referring to the land of the American Indian.
   "For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants; and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away."
   I think of how it is said we do not have room for all those who would come from Central and South America, if we were to throw open our borders. The scripture says the land would be, "too narrow by reason of the inhabitants." Could that be a prophecy that people would not want the immigrants to come for fear there would not be room for all of them? "They that swallowed thee up?" Yes, that sounds like the Europeans who took the land from the American Indians. It says, "They that swallowed thee up shall be far away." Shall be far away? Europe is far away. The people who took the land from the American Indians did come from far away.
   There are other things to wonder about in Isaiah 49. For now, I will hold my comment on them. Now, I do not say that what I offer above means that that is definitively what the scripture is referring to. But, I do not think you can say there is no likeness in what the scripture says to what is taking place.

No comments:

Post a Comment