An Everlasting Name
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 41, “He Hath Borne Our Griefs, and Carried Our Sorrows,” on Gospel Library
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On Thursday we met a traveler from Ethiopia reading Isaiah 53 in his chariot. Three chapters later in the same book, Isaiah has a promise for someone just like him.
Read Together
The traveler was a eunuch, a man who served in a royal court and could never have children (Acts 8:27). Under the law of Moses, eunuchs and some foreigners could not enter the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1–3).
3Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. 4For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 5Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 6Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
What It Teaches
In verse 3, both of them feel left out. The stranger says, “The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people,” and the eunuch calls himself “a dry tree,” with no children to carry on his name.
The Lord promises the eunuchs who keep his covenant “a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters” (verse 5). In Hebrew, “a place and a name” is yad vashem. Israel’s memorial to the Jews killed in the Holocaust is named for this verse, because so many of them had no family left to remember them.
Verse 6 gives the same promise to strangers who “take hold of my covenant.” When we take the sacrament, we promise to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ (Moroni 4:3). King Benjamin taught that covenant people are called by the name of Christ (Mosiah 5:7–9).
Verse 7 ends with the Lord’s house. “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” Jesus quoted this verse when he drove the moneychangers out of the temple (Mark 11:15–17). His house has room for everyone who comes to him.
Talk About It
Who might feel left out at church or at school, the way the stranger and the eunuch did? What could we do this week so they know they have a place?
Take to Church
The Lord promised people who felt left out a place in his house and a name that lasts forever. In the sacrament we take on the name of Jesus Christ.