Lehi’s family must have felt lonely as they built homes in an unfamiliar land far from their abandoned home in Jerusalem. They had traveled through the wilderness for eight years (1 Nephi 17:4), followed by a lengthy voyage on a ship (1 Nephi 18:22-23), sailing toward an unknown destination. It must have been a relief to find land, and it must have felt like they were on an island, isolated from the civilization they had left far behind.
No wonder that Nephi gravitated to scriptures about God remembering people on “the isles of the sea.” Shortly after relating their landing in the promised land, Nephi quotes a passage from the prophet Zenos which mentions the isles of the sea three times:
- A prophecy that people on the isles of the sea would experience three days of darkness as a sign of the Messiah’s death (1 Nephi 19:10)
- Natural disasters at the same time, which would prompt “many of the kings of the isles of the sea … to exclaim: The God of nature suffers” (1 Nephi 19:12)
- An assurance that God will “remember the isles of the sea” and gather scattered Israel (1 Nephi 19:16).
The second of the two Isaiah chapters which Nephi reads to his brothers is, in fact, addressed to the isles. “Listen, O isles, unto me,” the prophet says, “and hearken, ye people, from far” (Isaiah 49:1; compare 1 Nephi 21:2). Then, in Nephi’s version of the chapter, God also assures them that He is listening:
Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, O isles of the sea, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee.
1 Nephi 21:8; compare Isaiah 49:8
The version of this verse found in our Old Testament doesn’t contain the phrase “O isles of the sea.” Whether Nephi’s version of Isaiah on the brass plates contained that phrase or whether he inserted it to clarify the recipients of God’s message, he clearly cares about God’s words to people on islands.
After reading this chapter to his brothers, Nephi explains to them that the children of Israel who have been led away from Jerusalem have been “scattered to and fro upon the isles of the sea; and whither they are none of us knoweth, save that we know that they have been led away” (1 Nephi 22:4).
Nephi’s younger brother Jacob later quoted Isaiah 51, which contains this assurance:
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arm shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
2 Nephi 8:5
Jacob includes himself and his people in this promise:
We have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea.
2 Nephi 10:20-21
But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren.
These passages represent not only an assurance that God remembers Jacob and his people but also a broader sense that they are not alone, that their people are scattered throughout the world, and that they will eventually be reunited. At some point in the future, Jacob testifies, “they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth” (2 Nephi 10:8).
Today I will take comfort in knowing that God remembers the isles of the sea. I will remember that no matter how far I may feel from home, I am not forgotten and I will be reunited with those I love.
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