The scattering and gathering of Israel in the Book of Mormon

I have realized that the scattering and especially the gathering of Israel is a very important theme in the Book of Mormon. In fact the title page states that in addition to bringing people to Christ, the purpose of the Book of Mormon is "to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever". This is a recurrent theme in Nephi's vision, in 1 Nephi 20-22, in large parts of 2 Nephi including the Isaiah quotes, in Jacob 5, in 3 Nephi 16 and 20-22, and numerous other chapters or smaller passages.

I have posted about it a while back and made a summary here of common specifics in these prophecies. Overall, I like to structure this topic as shown below, where both the scattering and the gathering have a physical and a spiritual aspect.

	Physical	Spiritual
Scattering	·       Northern tribes (Israel/Ephraim) conquered by Assyria ·       Southern tribes (Juda) conquered by Babylon and later by the Romans ·       Various branches of the House of Israel emigrated, like Lehi’s family to America	·       Israel of old rejecting the covenant and worshipping idols ·       The apostasy from the church established by Christ and subsequent loss of priesthood authority
Gathering	·       The state of Israel established in 1947 (Juda) ·       A future gathering in Jackson county (Ephraim) ·       Gathering in “stakes of Zion”	·       The restoration of the gospel and priesthood keys. “The new and everlasting covenant”. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon as a sign ·       Conversion of Gentiles adopted into the House of Israel ·       A future conversion of many Jews

Some scriptures in the Book of Mormon that I think support this view:

1 Nephi 22

3 Wherefore, the things of which I have read are things pertaining to things both temporal and spiritual; for it appears that the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations…

5 …shall hereafter be scattered and be confounded, because of the Holy One of Israel; for against him will they harden their hearts; wherefore, they shall be scattered among all nations and shall be hated of all men.

12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.

3 Nephi 21

27 Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name.
28 Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance.

I notice in particular how the two verses in 3 Nephi each states two ways in which the "work shall commence", one spiritual and one temporal.

I'm posting this now because it is a topic that has been on my mind and something that I am reminded of again having just read Nephi's vision. I will probably post more on this in coming days.