Gileadi's background provides a pretty unique opportunity to understand certain difficult aspects of Old Testament prophecies to a degree that most people are simply not equipped for. But there is also a serious danger here. While I've never seen any claim that Gileadi is actually “jewish” on a genetic level, anyone who has spent such an extended time among them must be looked at with some degree of suspicion. Nephi himself wrote about this tradeoff between deep literary knowledge and possible corruption of the soul; he chose to avoid the risk, at the cost of keeping his people somewhat ignorant of Isaiah's exact meaning.

“I, Nephi, have not taught them many things concerning the manner of the Jews; for their works were works of darkness, and their doings were doings of abominations.” – 2 Nephi 25:2

Indeed, while Gileadi's basic premises are reasonable, some of the specific conclusions he draws from them are dubious or downright wrong, and seem to be influenced by his love for his old friends in “Israel” and his general conservative boomer outlook on the world. But we won't need to dwell on such things, focusing instead on the interesting insights he has provided about the ancient metaphoric language of Isaiah.

Everything I say about Gileadi, or quote directly from him, will come from one of the two books I mentioned above, unless otherwise indicated. For convenience, I'll abbreviate them as “BoI” and “tLD.”

In BoI, Gileadi explains that unlike Nephi, who tried to write as plainly as he could, the way Isaiah is written is meant to be a “deliberate challenge,” only accessible to those who really want to understand. Though some parts are fairly clear, most of the messages that Isaiah wanted to pass down to us through the centuries are protected under a layer of metaphors.

Luckily, in many cases, these metaphors are little more than direct substitutions — basically ancient codenames for modern things and people. For example, “Egypt” is mentioned over and over by Isaiah, and according to Gileadi each of these is actually a reference to a certain country in the modern world that has a lot of similarities with biblical Egypt. The same is true of Isaiah's many mentions of Assyria.

“The phenomenon of metaphors – more specifically, metaphorical pseudonyms – hides an entire scenario from the casual reader of Isaiah. Key words both conceal and reveal a drama unlike anything that appears on the surface of the text.”

So where is Isaiah's “Egypt” today? You may remember from the Old Testament that Egypt was a country where the white Israelites gathered together and lived for a while in happiness, but it eventually turned out to be an oppressive environment for them.

According to Gileadi, “Isaiah describes Egypt as industrious, but now enduring economic woes; stable, but now suffering political decline; religious, but becoming idolatrous... It possesses vast forces of chariots and horsemen, to which the smaller nations of the world look for protection.”

Isaiah gives several warnings against trusting in “Egypt” and its government. “Egypt represents the only military power sufficiently strong to counter Assyria,” Gileadi says, but many passages in Isaiah describe “Egypt”'s failure.

“Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow [protection] of Egypt your confusion.” – Isaiah 30

It seems pretty clear that if Gileadi’s interpretation has any truth to it, “Egypt” must be meant to represent America, or at least some group of “western” countries in which America is prominent. But if that’s the case, what is “Assyria,” which in Isaiah’s writings invades and overruns Egypt?

Here’s where it will really get interesting.

According to Gileadi, whenever Isaiah spoke of “Assyria,” he was foreshadowing a global force of chaos that would sweep the world in our time. The “Assyrians” were to be a group of various ethnicities that would invade many lands, including places where the descendants of Israel could be found, spreading destruction like a flood.

The “king of Assyria” represents the leader(s) responsible for this invasive mass movement of peoples, which is spoken about from the very first chapter of Isaiah:

“Your country is ruined, your cities burned with fire; your native soil is plundered by foreigners right in front of you, destroyed as it is taken over by strangers.”

In a very telling passage from Isaiah 10, the leader of the “Assyrians” brags about how he has removed the borders between nations and “gathered all the earth.” Here and elsewhere, we get a sense of the nature and purpose of the “Assyrians.” And more than once, Isaiah warns that those who trust in the U.S. and its leaders (AKA “Egypt” and the “Pharaoh”) to stop this multiracial invasion will be disappointed and ashamed.

These insights about the identity and behavior of the “Assyrians” call to mind the warning of Ether 8 that we would face a powerful conspiracy whose goal is “the destruction of all people.”

As Gileadi says in BoI, “When the Assyrians, like a flood, invade Ephraim’s land, direct revelation will provide the surest guide.” To withstand and oppose this invasion that threatens to exterminate us, we must seek help and guidance directly from God, and act accordingly, rather than waiting on compromised political and religious leaders to save the day.

“Babylon” is another codename in Isaiah’s writings, which goes hand-in-hand with “Assyria.” But because “Babylon” is consistently used as a metaphor throughout the scriptures, not just in the Book of Isaiah, its meaning is about as uncontroversial as it can be. In fact, I’ve already mentioned it in passing before. According to Gileadi, “Assyria” and “Babylon” stand for two aspects of the same global force of evil in our time, with Assyria representing the geopolitical side (invasions etc.) and Babylon representing the spiritual side (e.g. degeneracy and corruption of religion).

It's worth pointing out here that some of the nations mentioned by Isaiah are not really metaphorical at all. For example, when he speaks of “Israel” there is no reason to doubt he is literally referring to that ancient white nation and their modern descendants. When he mentions “Ephraim” he is surely talking about the portion of the House of Israel that largely ended up in America and northwestern Europe – but more on that later.

There is still a country called “Egypt” today, in roughly the same place as ancient times, but because of demographic change and other historical forces, it bears very little resemblance to the old superpower that Isaiah is apparently using as an analogy. “Assyria” is gone today, and there is no longer a country called “Babylon” either. However, there is a powerful quasi-religious movement that draws much of its worldview from a “Babylonian” code of ethics.

On a possibly related note, there is no longer a country called “Idumea” or “Edom,” or a people who call themselves “Edomites” or acknowledge their genealogical descent from Esau. But historical records tell us where that people must have gone, and Isaiah and other prophets spoke somewhat of them. Whether these prophetic mentions of “Edom”/“Idumea” are to be taken literally I will leave to the judgement of the reader.

“For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment... and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.” – Isaiah 34

“Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments… I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments.” – Isaiah 63