The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi quotes Isaiah 11:
2 Nephi 21:2-5
2 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;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
As I read this passage recently it struck me that, for the most part, these verses are a perfect description of what every Bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ strives to be and do.
I was also struck by the poetic beauty of these Messianic verses. Here's verse two, rendered somewhat more structurally to expose some parallelism:
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;
So that's what it means for the Spirit of the Lord to 'rest upon us':
- wisdom,
- understanding,
- counsel,
- might,
- knowledge, and
- the fear of the Lord.
A few of those ideas (like 'understanding' and 'the fear of the Lord') are combined and repeated in verse three:
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord;
and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.
Why would a Bishop need to have the Spirit of the Lord? Discernment! Judging and reproving are a tricky business if we are left to our own devices. We need wisdom from a higher power in order to look on someone's heart rather than relying on our own perceptions of outward appearance (see 1 Samuel 16:7).
Indeed, there are times when a Bishop must discern how to minister to those with unmet temporal needs, but only in such a way as to foster self-reliance, not dependence. That's what I think of when I read verse four:
But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and
reprove with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked.
The words 'poor' and 'meek of the earth', along with the idea of (eventual) 'equity' bring to mind a few of the Savior's beatitudes:
3 Nephi 12:3,5
3 Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
...
5 And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Now, maybe the latter half of verse four isn't terribly relevant to the work of Bishops, but it does introduce the contrasting concepts of righteousness and wickedness, as well as describe elements of the Savior's humanity--we've now learned how he uses his eyes, ears, mouth, lips, and will soon learn how even the clothing he wears has meaning and purpose.
And righteousness shall be
the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins.
Would you go anywhere without dressing for the occasion? Similarly, we should take our own personal righteousness with us wherever we go--it'll always be in style.
Strikingly, Nephi later quotes these same verses in 2 Nephi 30, but inserts the following between verses four and five:
2 Nephi 30:10
10 For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire.
Again, perhaps not relevant to Bishops, but interesting nonetheless.
Based on our reading of these verses, here are some questions to ponder:
- What does working 'by the spirit' look like?
- What does it mean to have 'quick understanding in the fear of the Lord'?
- What does a 'common judge' actually judge?
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 the fear of the Lord, And shall make him of quick understanding in 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... and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
1 Peter 2:25
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls