This could be arguably the most difficult of the five keys. In 2 Nephi 25:6, Nephi said because he lived at Jerusalem, he knew "concerning the regions round about", which gives us another key into understanding Isaiah. Granted, this one probably won't make the Isaiah sections jump out and start singing, but it helps a little when you know where he's talking about. Your best friend on this one will be the Bible maps.
Isaiah speaks of the "end of the conduit of the upper pool" in 2 Nephi 17:3, which doesn't mean anything to most of us. Once we learn that the Pool of Shiloah was also called the upper pool, then we know exactly where Isaiah is referring, and the conduit or aqueduct is Hezekiah's tunnel that was constructed to bring in water into the seiged city of Jerusalem from the nearby Gihon Spring.
In 2 Nephi 20:9 when the Assyrian king is boasting about Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad, it's helpful to know that those are the names of cities (not people as I had assumed) that had been conquored by the Assyrian armies (738 BC, 717 BC, 720 BC, and 738 BC, respectively).
2 Nephi 21/ Isaiah 11 speaks a lot about the conditions in the Millennium and the gathering of Israel. Verse 11 indicates that the "remnant of his people" will be gathered from "Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." Egypt I can pick out of that line-up and even find on a map, but the rest is a little fuzzy. After a little research, I found that Assyria is comparable to present-day Iran/ Iraq. Pathros is Upper Egypt, Cush is Ethiopia, Elam is Persia, Shinar is the city of Babel, and Hamath is Upper Syria. Now it's a little easier to get the scope of this specific gathering. The Islands of the sea were pretty much anywhere you couldn't get to on land, which would include the Americas, England, etc.
So there we go, the fourth key is knowing a little about the geography of Israel and the surrounding areas. Part of what makes this one so difficult is the fact that some of the places Isaiah names have been renamed or don't exist anymore. Don't let that trip you up though, there's enough information available to get the general idea.
Isaiah speaks of the "end of the conduit of the upper pool" in 2 Nephi 17:3, which doesn't mean anything to most of us. Once we learn that the Pool of Shiloah was also called the upper pool, then we know exactly where Isaiah is referring, and the conduit or aqueduct is Hezekiah's tunnel that was constructed to bring in water into the seiged city of Jerusalem from the nearby Gihon Spring.
In 2 Nephi 20:9 when the Assyrian king is boasting about Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad, it's helpful to know that those are the names of cities (not people as I had assumed) that had been conquored by the Assyrian armies (738 BC, 717 BC, 720 BC, and 738 BC, respectively).
2 Nephi 21/ Isaiah 11 speaks a lot about the conditions in the Millennium and the gathering of Israel. Verse 11 indicates that the "remnant of his people" will be gathered from "Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." Egypt I can pick out of that line-up and even find on a map, but the rest is a little fuzzy. After a little research, I found that Assyria is comparable to present-day Iran/ Iraq. Pathros is Upper Egypt, Cush is Ethiopia, Elam is Persia, Shinar is the city of Babel, and Hamath is Upper Syria. Now it's a little easier to get the scope of this specific gathering. The Islands of the sea were pretty much anywhere you couldn't get to on land, which would include the Americas, England, etc.
So there we go, the fourth key is knowing a little about the geography of Israel and the surrounding areas. Part of what makes this one so difficult is the fact that some of the places Isaiah names have been renamed or don't exist anymore. Don't let that trip you up though, there's enough information available to get the general idea.
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