The covenants With Joseph and  Book of Mormon's Purpose

 

"But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 10:6

 

"He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15:24

God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants, that their disregard for God's commandments would cause them to become a scattered people.  Only after they began to recognize Christ as their savior, would the lost remnants be gathered together again.  This event is prophesied to occur in the last days.

 

So, how is this knowledge of Christ going to occur in the last days?  If you had to choose from one of two topics for which to teach or preach about, and the topics were:

 

1)How the Jews will be restored to a knowledge of the truth in the latter Days; or

 

2) The story of Joseph (coat of many colors) his eleven hateful brothers, their selling Him to Egypt, his reign in Egypt, the famine and re-uniting of His family;

 

which topic would you feel more at ease discussing?  Most people would choose #2, the story of Joseph.  Every Christian learns about Joseph and his coat of many colors in their youth--the events are familiar and easily recalled.  But these same Christians,  at first glance, may avoid topic #1, because it's events are shrouded in old testament prophecy, and some may not even be aware that a "re-gathering" has been prophesied since the Genesis account.

 

Here is the good news:  if you know the details of the story of Joseph, you already know the pattern by which God is going to restore the Jews (House of Israel) to a knowledge of the truth in the last days.  This handout will discuss:

 

1)     a synopsis of Joseph's life, then

2)     a comparison of Joseph's story to prophecy in the Bible, and

3)     a summary of the Book of Mormon's main purpose--to be a tool in restoring the Jews to a knowledge of the truth in the Latter days.

 

Although the language can sometimes seem confusing, most of the Old Testament prophets wrote about this significant event:  the scattering and re-gathering of the House of Israel.  But not only the old Testament prophets, Christ too, and the early church apostles also foretold these events to happen in the last days.

 

The Book of Mormon is the key to understanding this essential part of God's plan, though, like a missing puzzle piece which when perfectly fitted with the whole, reveals the hidden picture, is the information that makes God's plan clear.  God has a plan to restore literally millions of descendants of Abrahams' grandchildren to a knowledge of the truth.

 

How did the covenant people become lost and scattered?

 

1.  The beginning of a nation:  As stated, Abraham had a promise that his descendants would be blessed, and that they would cover the earth as the 'sands of the sea.'

 

 

2.     The establishing of a covenant.  Isaac, the son of Abraham receives a promise that his seed will be the covenant people of God.

 

 

2.     The sons of Jacob--The House of Israel.  The twelve sons of Jacob, later called Israel, became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Judah will receive the right to lineage (until Christ came) and from them Christ would be born, but a rich blessing is put on the head of Joseph, above all others.

 

 

 

 

2.     The Nation under Moses

 

2.     The Cursing and the Blessing made to the House of Israel

 

2.     The promise to David.  The right of leadership through lineage would always rest upon Judah, through David.

 

2.     The scattering begins:  Why?  basically because they disagreed with the leadership of the church.

 

 

2.     Ten Tribes go to the North.  Two tribes remain (Judah and Benjamin).  After the split, the two remaining tribes are henceforth called "Judah";  the ten departed are referred to as 'Israel'.   Keep this in mind when reading the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. because they prophecy to both groups.

 

 

2.     The tribes will come to a knowledge of Christ and be re-gathered in the Latter Days.

 

 

 

Allegory

 

While all the events in the Old Testament really happened, prophets who wrote about the events also explained how the events were often allegories, (or 'types' or 'similitudes')--the events in lives of people would eventually represent the lives of nations to follow.  Take, for instance, the story of Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac.  These brothers, one born to a slave woman, and one born to a free, and their father's blessings, created a course of history that would produce the eventual Arab nation and the Hebrew nation.  But thousands of years after the events, Paul (Galations 3 ) writes how this story was an allegory, the slave and her son (Ishmael) represented the Law of Moses, the free woman and her son (Isaac) allegorically represented the Law of Christ.  Other allegories, or types, exist.  Abraham offering up Isaac, was a type for God offering up Christ, etc.  The hope (of God) is that by understanding the stories in the physical, we will understand God's purposes in the spiritual.

 

Chapter 6 of Ether (in the Book of Mormon) makes it clear that the story of Joseph is a type for how the Jews will be restored to a knowledge of the truth in a day soon to come.  Let's find out more.

 

 


 

Brief History of Scattering & Tribal Destinations

(taken from: Yair Davidy, "Brit-Am" P.O.B. 595Jerusalem 91004Israel Telephone: (0)2-9973182)

 

http://www.jerusalembooks.com/download/tribes.txt

 

Tribe

Final Destination Today

Ephraim

Britain

Manasseh

USA

Reuben

France

Simeon

Celts and Jews

Levi    

With the Jews

Yehuda

Jutes and Jews

Issachar

Swiss and Fins

Zebulon

Holland

Gad

Sweden

Asher  

Scots

Benjamin

Belgae and Normans

Dan

Danes and Celts

Naphtali

Norwegians

 

(References are from the Hebrew Bible)

According to the Bible, Abraham was chosen to be the forefather of a nation through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12;2), who would keep the way of the LORD to do justice and judgement (Genesis 18;19), and who would themselves become numerous, great, mighty, and blessed (Genesis 22;16-19).The blessings, in effect, were made unconditionally(ibid.) and may be considered more as a means to achieve, rather than an effect of the ordained national role.

Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob who was renamed “Israel” (Genesis 32;28) who had twelve sons and these became the twelve tribes of Israel. Under kings Saul, David, and Solomon the twelve tribes were united in one kingdom which, at various stages, controlled a significant portion of the Middle East.

King David, from the Tribe of Judah, established the capital at Jerusalem within which his son Solomon built the Temple. In the reign of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, ten of the northern most tribes seceded and formed their own kingdom (1 Kings 12;20-23), whichwas referred to as “Israel”, (e.g. Hosea 5;5), whereas the remaining tribes who remained faithful to the House of David were called “Judah”.

From inhabitants of the Kingdom of “Judah”are descended the modern Jews, though many individuals from the northern seceding tribes also made their way south (e.g. 2 Chronicles 15;9) in the course of time, and these too became  part of the Jewish nation. In approximately the period 740-720 b.c.e. the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and all of its people were exiled (2 Kings 17;18). 

Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, also exiled more than 200,000 people from the kingdom of Judah which number, at that stage, must have accounted for a good portion of the total Judean population. It follows that those Israelites exiled by the Assyrians included many from Judah, whereas those in Judah, who were not exiled, included many from the northern tribes who had made their way south previously. Even so, it is conventionally accepted to name those exiles taken away by the Assyrians “The Lost Ten Tribes” after the original body who broke away from Judah.

The Lost Ten tribes were destined to lose their identity. The exile appears to have been complete. There are almost no archaeological remains pertaining to Israelites in the northern “Israel” area1 and dating from after the Assyrian exile.

Some later traditions indicate that a small percentage did remain and these either joined their brothers in “Judah” or else amalgamated with the “Samaritans” who were foreigners settled by the Assyrians in place of the evacuees (2 Kings 17;24)2. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of Israelites had been taken away to places named in the Bible, in Talmudic literature, and other sources, to locations wherein Israelite presence is confirmed by archaeological evidence and from popular legend.

It will be shown that the exiled Israelites are identifiable, very often, in their places of exile by the every same Tribal and Clan names they must have had before their exile, and that they were destined to continue to play an important role in human history. The Israelites had been exiled because they worshipped other gods and followed pagan customs (2 Kings 17;7-23). In their places of exile the Israelites were to continue on the whole their idolatrous practices and adoption of foreign ways. Despite their imitation, throughout the ages, of the peoples surrounding them, the Hebrew nature of the exiles was to reassert itself from time to time and this enabled the realization of their inherited mission to tame and humanize the pagan world.

The Israelites were transported en- masse firstly mainly to areas in northern Mesopotamia and to Hara and from those regions they later moved northward into “Scythia” (roughly the area encompassed in the past by the U.S.S.R.) whence they migrated in several waves to the extreme north and west of Europe from which their descendants settled North America, Australasia, and SouthAfrica. The peoples in these said nations today are thus in the Biblical and historical sense brothers of the Jews who came from the remaining southern kingdom of Judah and comprised the second half of the Hebrew nation with the Lost Ten Tribes comprising the remainder.

The Jews and the Lost Ten Tribes together form the Israelite or HEBREW nation. The word “HEBREW” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word ”Ibri”, or “Ivri” and has been understood as meaning” descendant of Eber” or “someone from over the river Euphrates”. The name “IBRI” may be literally understood also as meaning simply “outsider” and is derived from the root “aver” or “over” which, in both English and Hebrew connotes “above and beyond”.

The first Hebrew in the Scriptural sense was Abraham the Hebrew. A Midrash (Genesis Rabah 42) says that: All the world stood on one side while Abraham the Patriarch stood over on the other. Abraham was the forefather of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Ten of these Twelve Tribes disappeared and were lost so that only two remained to be historically identified. These remaining two tribes became the Jews of history. The Jews were exiled from their land and suffered persecution and unjustified hostility for more than two thousand years.

 

(for more information from Yair Davidy, see www.nazarene.net)

 

 


·         


Genealogical Chart Notes

 

1.  Abraham received promise that "…in his seed, all nations would be blessed" (Gen. 18:17, 22:22, 26:4)

 

2. Abraham has Isaac and Ishmael, one born to a free woman (non-slave), the other born to a slave.

These become an allegory for the covenants of the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ (Gal. 4)

 

3.  Isaac is almost sacrificed, another allegory which perfectly parallels God offering His Son, Jesus for our Sins. (Gen. 22)

 

4.  Abraham's slave is cast out, with her son, Ishmael, but He has the promise to become a great nation also (Gen. 21)

 

5.  Jacob, later named Israel (meaning "God will come in Power"), gets blessing and to him 12 sons are born

 

6.  Joseph, is sold out of his homeland, and eventually becomes a ruler in a land of "Gentiles" (unbelievers).  (Gen 35-Gen 48).  Has visions as a boy of family bowing down to him,  In a time of famine, this is fulfilled literally as he provides food for his lost family.  This story is also allegorical, being a type and shadow for how the record preserved by the Nephites (who were Joseph's descendants), will be preserved in the land of the Gentiles, and will provide spiritual nourishment to their lost tribal brothers in a day to come.

 

7.  The Descendants of the 12 brothers become twelve great kingdoms.  Later, under Solomon's son, 10 of the 12 tribes revolt.  (2 Chronicles 10-15). The two remaining tribes, Judah and Benjamin, become as one and are known as "Jews". The "Jews" and the 10 other tribes become known as the Hebrew Nation, Israelites, or "the House of Israel".  The 10 tribes became scattered throughout the earth, to be re-united (restored) in a day to come, because of God's promise.  This is the culmination of the "Gathering", and is a major purpose of the Book of Mormon, to be the spiritual nourishment (as in Joseph's story) for his lost brothers some day.

 

8.  The tribe of Joseph becomes his two Sons, Ephriam and Manasseh.  From Manasseh, eventually is born Lehi, who comes to America.  Lehi's coming is the literal fulfillment of the promise to Joseph that a remnant will be preserved (as was a remnant of his coat), that his descendants would go "over the wall" meaning the ocean (Gen. 50),and that they would be among the Gentiles, and rise to authority again in the last days (Micah 5:8).


Synopsis of Joseph's Story

 

·        Israel (Jacob) has 12 sons, to 4 different wives. The wife Israel loved the most was Rachel

 

·        Joseph born to Rachel and Israel (Jacob). (Benjamin also born to Israel)

 

·        Joseph is loved the most, Father makes him a coat of many colors  (Gen.37; 3)

 

·        Joseph, about 17 years old,  dreams his brothers and family bow down to him (sheaves, stars)

 

·        Joseph's father rebukes him for sharing this, but stores it in his heart (Gen.37:11)

 

·        Hated by brothers, Joseph is sold as a slave into Egypt.

 

·        Brothers plot to lie to Israel that Joseph had been killed, bring a remnant of his coat back to Israel

 

·        Israel apparently believes mourns the loss of his son (Gen.37:35)

 

·        Joseph gains authority in Egypt, has God's blessing (Gen.39:1)

 

·        Framed by Potiphar's wife, thrown into prison.  (Gen.40)

 

·        Joseph later is remembered in prison, correctly interprets Pharaoh's dreams of the seven years of plenty, and the following seven years of famine to cover all the world. (Gen.41)

 

·        Joseph's, now 30 years old, has authority in Egypt is restored (ring, clothes bestowed) (Gen. 41:42)

 

·        Famine hits the world.  Family of Jacob is starving.  Jacob, Joseph's father, sends 10 of his remaining sons to Egypt to buy corn.  Keeps Benjamin, Joseph's only full blood brother, at home, fears losing him as he did Joseph over 20 years prior. (Gen.42)

 

·        Brothers meet Joseph unaware.  He gives grain, but in order to see Benjamin and father, pretends to believe his brothers are spies.  Holds one for ransom.  Sends brothers back with grain and conceals their money in their sacks.  This blessing by Joseph is viewed as a cursing by the brothers (Gen. 42)

 

·        Joseph's brother's return,  ("…we will arise and not die…"),   brings Benjamin.  Joseph's identity still hidden.  Makes feast for them, gives Benjamin 5 times the portions as all the others. (Gen. 43)

 

·        Brother's leave for the second time, but a silver cup is secretly hidden in Benjamin's grain sack. The mock discovery by Joseph's servants allows Joseph to bring brother's back again. (Gen. 44)

 

·        When brother's return, Joseph intends to keep Benjamin, hoping this will lure his Father to Egypt, but the emotion is so great seeing the anguish of his brothers, Joseph reveals his identity. (Gen. 45)

 

·        Joseph shares that 'God sent him forth to preserve a posterity in the earth' (Gen.45;7); but Gen.45:5 says not only to preserve his family's life, but to "..preserve life.." Genesis 50:20: But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

 

·        Israel and families gather in to dwell in Egypt, the Land of the Gentiles.  Receive peace and happiness and blessings. (Gen.46)

 

·        Finally, Israel blesses the 12 sons, and also the sons of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), giving the younger, Ephraim the choice blessing.  Joseph's posterity is blessed, promising that "his seed will travel over the wall", and a choice seer will be raised up out of his descendants.

 

·       The story, now ultimately "re-starts" with the literal fulfilling of the prophecies given to the sons, being acted out in the generations of their descendants.

 

 

 

 


 

T

he story of Joseph is allegorical to the prophetic re-gathering of Israel.  The events that happened to the sons of Israel, happen to the nations born of those sons.  Remember, the rich promise if placed upon Joseph.  This final section will discuss the story, the prophecies about the nations, and the explanation for the prophecies, made clear by the Book of Mormon.

 

Story of Joseph Gen 36-48

Story of Joseph is a type and shadow for the regathering of Israel

·        Ether 6:6 And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type; for as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there;

 

·        Ether 6:7 Wherefore the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph, that they should perish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph, that he should perish not;

 

·        Ether 6:8 Wherefore the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built up upon this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come, when the earth shall pass away.

 

·        Ether 6:10 And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel.

 

Abraham--Grandfather, in thy seed shall nations be blessed.  Gen. 12:2,

Life of his descendants is literally fulfilled in the descendant nations

·        1 N 4:26-9, Exek 34:6

·        Micah 7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

 

·        Jeremiah 31:10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

 

·        Ezekiel 20:34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out.

 

·        Ezekiel 28:25 Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.

 

·        John 11:52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

 

Joseph, one of 12 sons born to Israel Gen 37:1-3

The Literal head of the House of Joseph, and his life is the prophetic pattern of his descendants destiny.

·        2 Nephi 7:26 For I will fulfill my promises which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh.

 

 

Joseph dreams that his family bows down to him Gen. 37:7, Gen 42:6

 

 

 

 

Coat of Many Colors Gen 37:3 , Remnant of Coat Left Gen 37:32

The Remnant of Believers, descendants of Joseph, who are the American, Central and South American Indians today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coat represents the house of Israel, the remnant returned represents the faithful that believed:

 

 

 

Joseph taken away out of  his homeland Gen. 37:28

 

 

 

 

Unknown to Joseph, Egypt will be the future Land of His immediate family's inheritance

 

 

Joseph first in authority, then a prisoner Gen 39:41

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph, at one time a  prisoner in Egypt, is now a ruler under Pharaoh in the Land of the Gentiles (Gen, 41:39-44)

Joseph was imprisioned by the same person who later freed him.  Native Americans, prisoners in the nation, will one day blossom as the rose. Scattered by the same people who will nourish them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Famine in the Homeland Gen 41:56

The truth is lost, spiritual famine for hearing and having the word  & authority of God.

·        Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord;

 

"… We will arise…" The lost tribes will one day 'arise' and come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 11 brothers go to Egypt for food, unknowing that it is the 12th brother who gives them nourishment Gen 42:6-8

Israel (house of Judah), of the covenant, will in a future day,  receive the long awaited truth in power, not deny the Christ anymore.  US helps Israel today.  No coincidence that the prolamation restoring Israel's status as a nation was signed by Harry Truman in 1948 in Independence MO. "..will Be a father to them.."

·        Isaiah 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it; 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, everyone to his wicked ways. 11 And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the Lord of hosts soon cometh upon all nations; yea, upon everyone; yea, upon the proud and lofty, and upon everyone who is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.  .....17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

 

Joseph supplies Judah with physical nourishment

The word of the Lord from the House of Joseph will supply the house of Judah (Jews) with Spiritual Food in the last days.  The Book of Mormon, which is the record of the house of Joseph in this land, will be the vehicle by which this process occurs.

·        DC 18:3c  which is my word to the Gentiles, that soon it may go to the Jew, of whom the Lamanites are a remnant, that they may believe the gospel, and look not for a Messiah to come who has already come.

 

·        1 Nephi 4:21 Yea, at that day, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine? 22 Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God? 23 Behold, I say unto you, Yea: they shall be remembered again among the house of Israel; 24 They shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive tree, into the true olive tree;  (Covenant fulfilled in the Latter Days)

 

Joseph's heart softened toward his brothers, weeps alone, cares like a father for his brethren

·        2 Nephi 7:28 Nevertheless, I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them;

 

Joseph nourishes them Gen 43

Gentiles bear the responsibility for bringing the truth to the Jews. "..Queens shall be their nursing mothers.."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph Reveals Himself Gen. 45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pharoah--promises to share the best of the land with him Gen 47:6

2 Nephi 7: 30 Wherefore, I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and they who shall be numbered among thy seed, for ever, for the land of their inheritance: (31) For it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands;

 

 

The Father comes to the Land of the Gentiles

Signifies the gathering of Israel to the land of the Gentiles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·        2 Nephi 12:85 And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered, also shall begin to believe in Christ: and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land;

 

Re-uniting of Joseph and Israel came with 'weeping on necks'

Gen.46:29

Zion described as falling on necks, weeping rejoicing.

 

 

 

 

 

God sent him to preserve a posterity in the earth  Gen 45:5, 7, 8

Return to Homeland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Covenant fulfilled in the Latter Days

1 Nephi 4:21 Yea, at that day, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine? 22 Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God? 23 Behold, I say unto you, Yea: they shall be remembered again among the house of Israel; 24 They shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive tree, into the true olive tree;

 

25 And this is what our father meaneth; 26 And he meaneth that it will not come to pass, until after they are scattered by the Gentiles; 27 And he meaneth that it shall come by way of the Gentiles, that the Lord may shew his power unto the Gentiles, for the very cause that he shall be rejected of the Jews, or of the house of Israel: 28 Wherefore, our father hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also of all the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be fulfilled in the latter days;

 

29 Which covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham, saying, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 30 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake much unto them concerning these things; 31 Yea, I spake unto them concerning the restoration of the Jews, in the latter days; 32 And I did rehearse unto them the words of Isaiah, who spake concerning the restoration of the Jews, or of the house of Israel; 33 And after they were restored, they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again.

 

 

How then, does Joseph's story relate to the restoration of the Jews to Christ?

 

·        Ezekiel 37:15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions; 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?

·        19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all;

 

 

Lehi and his family were a remnant of the house of Joseph (Manasseh).  They left Jerusalem, as was Joseph, and were led to a foreign land, the Americas.  As they kept the commandments, they prospered; as they disobeyed, they perished.  Although wickedness brought the believers' eventual destruction, a promise was made to the children of Laman and Lemuel (the 'Lamanites') that they would one day have the blessings of the Lord again.  Joseph, too, had a day of authority in the Pharaoh's court, his day of imprisonment, then his sudden return to authority as a ruler.  So it has been, and will be, with the descendants of the Lamanites ( the Native Americans, or "Indians').  Perhaps they are still enduring their 'imprisonment' now, but this remnant of Manasseh will 'one day blossom as the rose' (DC 49). 

 

The day is approaching in which the spiritual food, the Book of Mormon, from this descendant of Joseph, will spiritually nourish the other eleven lost tribes of Israel, just as Joseph spiritually fed his starving brothers.  When the word of the Book of Mormon is made known to the lost tribes, it will be fulfilling a promise and covenant of the Book of Mormon, to convince them that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal God (see Book of Mormon preface).  IT will, with the Bible (the record of the Jews) grow together to the convincing of all the world that Jesus was and is the Messiah.  Just as Joseph was sent forth to preserve a posterity for his family (Gen. 45:, 5, 7,8), so was this remnant of Joseph sent forth to preserve a spiritual posterity for generations to come.

 

When the Jews and lost tribes begin to acknowledge Christ, then will be the beginning of their re-gathering, as was Joseph's family gathered to a land of Gentiles

 

The Re-gathering