Graven Upon the Palms of His Hands

The more I study the Book of Mormon the more I'm impressed with Nephi's selection of the Isaiah chapters. Indeed some of Isaiah's finest writings are taught in the Book of Mormon, always followed with some fine prophetic commentary. Nephi's intent is to "more fully persuade them (his brethren) to believe in the Lord their Redeemer" (1 Nephi 19: 23). The two chapters that follow are indeed extraordinary.

Isaiah unfolds the relationship between Jehovah and the house of Israel, a people who sometimes feel "forsaken" and "forgotten" (1 Nephi 21: 14), but who in reality are tightly bound to the Lord by covenants. The Lord will show that the forgetting and forsaking are one-sided.

Isaiah then compares the Godlike love of a mother to divine Christlike love:

"For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel" (1 Nephi 21: 15).

The New Testament Greek word for compassion means "to be moved as to one's bowels," or as my friend Eric Huntsman would say, "torn in the gut."

The Lord begins to speak in the first person, addressing you and me, as the covenant family of the house of Israel. He said,

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me" (1 Nephi 21: 16).

This is definitely covenant language. The entire phrase "palms of my hands" is capsulized by the Hebrew word kaph. It can mean the palm of the hand, the sole of the foot, or the hollow of the thigh. Click here for a link to read more about this Hebrew word. It is translated as the word spoon 24 times in the Old Testament. You will notice this on the link. The spoons referenced here would be more like ladles. It also means bent objects, curved objects, and the curved shape of palm branches which were strewn in the path of Jesus at His triumphal entry, symbolizing victory over sin and death (see John 12: 13). They would be hollow-shaped objects that could hold something. 

Let's look at some examples.

Consider the experience of Jacob when he wrestles (Hugh Nibley would say "embraces") a messenger. The messenger touches him in the hollow of the thigh (but this could be palm of the hand, sole of the foot, or joint of the thigh), Jacob receives a new name (Israel, meaning to prevail with God), and Jacob says he has seen God face to face (see Genesis 32: 24-32). This sounds like a real good covenant day to me. The Hebrew word for "hollow of the thigh" is kaph.

Or consider the account of Noah in his ark--I mean floating temple. Noah sent forth a dove. Then it reads, "But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark" (Genesis 8: 9).  The sole of the foot is the kaph. And he "put forth his hand" and "pulled her in unto him."

As priests were consecrated (meaning "filled the hand") they took the elements of the sacrifice from the "ram of consecration" and "put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands" (Leviticus 8: 22, 27). The hands were the kaph.

But Jesus speaks of His hands in the Creation process by asking,

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" (Isaiah 40: 12).

Parenthetically, there would have been a compass used to mete out heaven, and the span would make a circle creating an eternal round (see 1 Nephi 10: 19). 

But always remember your Savior and His hands, that however full they become, your eternal redemption is front and center, in the palm of His hands, eternally graven, and always present before His eyes (see D&C 38: 2).