Thoughts on Joseph, part 1

You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done. (Genesis 50:20, EXB)

Image by Robert T. Barrett (source)

My personal study of the Old Testament this year has been richly rewarding. The story of Joseph has taken on multiple layers of deeper meaning in light of recent topics we've posted here.  Today's post will be a summary and review of various ideas about one of the deeper meanings of the story of Joseph -- specifically how this story teaches us about the grand arc of the House of Israel.  What began with a small group of people in the land of Canaan culminates in the latter days with the gathering of all of God's children who have ever or will ever live on the earth!

Back to 'the fulness of the Gentiles'

I'm revisiting the phrase "fulness of the Gentiles" in Genesis 48:19.  In studying this important phrase, I came across Romans 11:25, where Paul states something remarkable about the future of the House of Israel:

So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (NRSV)

The whole chapter is remarkable.  Having just read the five books of Moses, this passage really stands out:

13 I’m speaking to you Gentiles. Considering that I’m an apostle to the Gentiles, I publicize my own ministry 14 in the hope that somehow I might make my own people jealous and save some of them. 15 If their rejection has brought about a close relationship between God and the world, how can their acceptance mean anything less than life from the dead? 16 But if part of a batch of dough is offered to God as holy, the whole batch of dough is holy too. If a root is holy, the branches will be holy too.  (CEB)

 

He's making reference to firstfruits in verse 16. Recall that the holiness of the Levites allows the whole company to be(come) holy.  In a similar manner, Paul is saying here that when the Jews began rejecting the Gospel, God saw fit to have it preached to the Gentiles. In verse 15, he compares this miraculous opening up of the Gospel to the whole world to raising someone from the dead.

Parallels in the story of Joseph

All of this brings me back to Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Genesis 48:19 tells us that Jacob prophesies that Manasseh will be a great nation, but Ephraim will be the 'melo hagoyyim' -- 'a multitude of nations.'  This phrase could also be rendered 'fulness of the Gentiles.' It's no wonder Paul says in Romans 11:25 that a mystery of God is that the Jews were hardened so that and until the 'fulness of the Gentiles' has come in. This seems to me to be a clear reference to the latter-day restoration, which comes to the world through Ephraim.

Can you see the parallel to Joseph? He was stripped of his robe (a symbol of his authority/divine favor) and sold into slavery, but he prospered nonetheless.  The hand of God was over him, and he recognizes this when he tells his brothers years later:

You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done. (Genesis 50:20, EXB)

Likewise, the seed of his two sons each play key roles in the latter-day gathering.  Manasseh (through Lehi) gives us the Nephites, whose record has become the instrument of the gathering.  The seed of Ephraim (scattered to the Gentile nations) becomes the nursing father who carries the house of Israel, spoken of by Isaiah.  Nephi expounds on this when he says:

11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.
12 Behold, I say unto you, that the house of Israel was compared unto an olive tree, by the Spirit of the Lord which was in our father; and behold are we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the house of Israel?
13 And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—
14 And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved. (1 Nephi 15)

Christ speaks of it in 3 Nephi 16:

4 And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer.
5 And then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfil the covenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the house of Israel.
6 And blessed are the Gentiles, because of their belief in me, in and of the Holy Ghost, which witnesses unto them of me and of the Father. (3 Nephi 16)

(Stisa's post here is one of the key sources of inspiration for me to make many of these connections. I recommend you go back an re-read that post if this concept interests you.) 

The story of Joseph is a parable of the history of the house of Israel, with Ephraim and Manasseh's roles playing out precisely as defined by Jacob himself in Genesis 48:19. This is re-affirmed repeatedly throughout the scriptures. It brings clarity and importance to the Book of Mormon Title Page:

Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation—Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed—To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof—Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile ... Which 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—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations...

The meaning of 'Ephraim' and the connection to Genesis 1:22 and 28

Several Bible commentaries teach that the name 'Ephraim' means 'double fruitfulness' or 'increasing.' We know that Biblical names often contain wordplay.  'Ephraim' is no exception. There is a connection to the Hebrew word for 'fruitful' ('parah'). The '-aim' ending indicates a pairing or doubling. 

52 Joseph named the second son Ephraim [related to the Hebrew word for “fruitful”; 1:22] and said, “God has ·given me children [made me fruitful] in the land of my ·troubles [afflictions].” (Genesis 41, EXB)

Joseph recognized that God had blessed him with fruitfulness even in the land of his afflictions, hence the name of his second son. The connection to Genesis 1 is also fascinating.  It seems that the commandment given to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and replenish/fill the earth is fulfilled in the posterity of this 'doubly fruitful' branch of the House of Israel.

Jacob later blesses Ephraim (not his older brother) with the right hand and tells Joseph his seed will become 'a multitude of nations.' 'The fulness of the Gentiles' would be a perfectly acceptable alternative translation of the same words, as indicated above. At a time when the Gospel was nowhere to be found on the earth, God restored His covenant and ushered in the gathering by calling a descendant of that same Joseph to begin the latter-day work. 

5 Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

6 For Joseph truly testified, saying: A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins.

7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers. (2 Nephi 3)

The angel Moroni mentioned this principle to Joseph Smith during his visits in 1823:

41 He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fulness of the Gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of scripture, and offered many explanations which cannot be mentioned here. (Joseph Smith -- History)

Conclusion

So there you have my attempt at a summary of this really big set of ideas.  The story of Joseph is far more than just a tale of one man forgiving his brothers for selling him into slavery in a fit of jealousy.  It contains symbolism with far-reaching ramifications laying out God's plan to remember His covenant.

My next post will stay of the Joseph theme, looking in more detail at Joseph's coat and what it symbolizes.

Come Follow Me Resources: September 21–27. 3 Nephi 12–16: “I Am the Law, and the Light”

 This week's lesson covers 3 Nephi 12-16:

3 Nephi 12 -- Good works, faith, and repentance, Remembering the words, What the Book of Mormon teaches about the Eternal Father and the Son (and each of us)

3 Nephi 13 -- 3 Nephi 11-18 as a Temple Text, 

3 Nephi 14 -- What does it mean to call upon the name of God?, Building upon the Rock

3 Nephi 15 -- Receiving the Law (BofM - OT Connection series)

3 Nephi 16 --  "Fulness of the Gospel," God's covenant with Israel and the latter days 

What the Book of Mormon teaches about the relationship between the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (and each of us), part 1

10 And for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one; (3 Nephi 28)

This is a big topic, hard to cover in a single post. This will likely become a series of two posts. Even so, I won't be able to fully describe everything I've learned in the process  Rather, I'll plan to summarize what I consider to be the most important findings I made while studying this topic. I've included a list of passages I studied so you can see what material I am drawing on to base my conclusions.

One somewhat unexpected pattern I found while studying about the relationship between the Father and the Son was the central importance of unity. Although I set out to learn more about two perfected Beings, I also ended up learning about their desires for me (and everyone).  Here is a pattern I discovered:

1. The Father and the Son are perfectly united.
2. They desire each of us to be perfectly united with them.
3. They have established a perfect plan to produce that unity with them. This includes faith, repentance, ordinances, miracles, spiritual gifts, and the confirming/purifying influence of the Holy Ghost.
4. The only aspect of their plan that is in question is our willingness to follow it.

Here is a list of passages I studied:

• 1 Nephi 1
• Mosiah 15:1-9
• 3 Nephi 9:14-17
• 3 Nephi 11:11-41
• 3 Nephi 12:17-20, 48
• 3 Nephi 15:1
• 3 Nephi 16 
• 3 Nephi 17:14-25
• 3 Nephi 18:1-11
• 3 Nephi 19 (esp. v. 23)
• 3 Nephi 20 (esp. vv. 19-25)
• 3 Nephi 21 (esp. v. 27)
• 3 Nephi 27:13-30
• 3 Nephi 28:10-11
• Moroni 7:2-3, 48

Unity

As you read through these passages, notice how often it is mentioned that the Father and the Son are "one."  Often, this unity is also extended to righteous disciples, or at least an invitation is given to us to become one with them. Here are a few examples:

14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name. (3 Nephi 9)

27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one. ...36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one. 37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things. (3 Nephi 11)

23 And now Father, I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words, that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one. (3 Nephi 19)

10 ...and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one; (3 Nephi 28)

Another common statement is that the will of Christ was united, or "swallowed up," with the will of the Father.

7 Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father. (Mosiah 15)

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. (3 Nephi 11)

We'll end this part on that note. It is abundantly clear to me that mortality is all about surrendering our own will to that of God's will.  When we are baptized, we lay down the old creature, and arise anew as a spiritual being, willing to follow Christ in all things.  When we partake of the sacrament, we promise to always remember Him.

In the next post in this series, we'll look in more detail at what it means to be united, and how covenants fit into this picture.

"Fulness of the gospel" in the Book of Mormon

I'm convinced this phrase has reference to temple covenants.

It occurs 9 times in the Book of Mormon--twice in the introductory pages and 7 other times, all contained within 2 short spans: 1 Nephi 10-15 and 3 Nephi 16-20.

Interestingly, the majority of these references seem to be referring to the latter-day restoration of the gospel ("the dispensation of the fulness of times"). The gathering and covenants are also mentioned prominently.

1 Nephi 10

14 And after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer.

1 Nephi 13

24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.

1 Nephi 15

13 And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—
14 And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved.

3 Nephi 16

5 And then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfil the covenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the house of Israel.6 And blessed are the Gentiles, because of their belief in me, in and of the Holy Ghost, which witnesses unto them of me and of the Father.
7 Behold, because of their belief in me, saith the Father, and because of the unbelief of you, O house of Israel, in the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles, that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them.
...10 And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.
11 And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them.
12 And I will show unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you; but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fulness of my gospel.

3 Nephi 20

28 And they shall be a scourge unto the people of this land. Nevertheless, when they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father.
29 And I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father.30 And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them;
31 And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name.
32 Then shall their watchmen lift up their voice, and with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye.

Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith:

“He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.
“He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;

What does all  of this mean?

I see a few important takeaways from studying this phrase.

First, anyone who wants to argue that Joseph Smith invented the text of the Book of Mormon needs to account for this rich covenant/gathering/fulness of the gospel theme in the Book of Mormon text, which was set in type in 1829, although the temple endowment and other parts of the restoration were still a decade away at this time.  Talk about a long con!

Second, I believe the importance of the temple covenants are perhaps greatly underappreciated in the Church.  The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has to do with making and keeping covenants in order to be cleansed by the "blood of the Lamb."

Early church apostle David W. Patten said this about the dispensation of the fulness of times in 1838:

“The dispensation of the fullness of times is made up of all the dispensations that ever have been given since the world began, until this time … in the which all things shall be fulfilled that have been spoken of since the earth was made. …
“Joseph Smith, the leader of this dispensation] must be clothed with the power of all other dispensations, or his dispensation could not be called dispensation of the fullness of times. …
“Therefore, brethren, beware concerning yourselves, that you sin not against the authority of this dispensation, nor think lightly of those whom God has counted worthy for so great a calling.” (In History of the Church, 3:51–53.)

When we accept the fulness of the gospel (by making and keeping covenants) God gathers us together.  When we reject the fulness of the gospel, we are scattered. This dispensation was prophesied to be the time of the final gathering of the House of Israel.

Study notes (updated): God's covenant with Israel and latter-day events

I created a post about this earlier, but have now extended it to include some chapters in 1st Nephi as well. It's a bit long so I'm just linking the document instead of writing the text in the blog post: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MmkaLdY0VhPKhlBvQhKEpuQ1amrJTijM

Study notes: God's covenant with Israel and the latter days

This is a summary of certain passages in the Book of Mormon, talking about the covenant God has made with Israel, how this will be restored in the latter days and the role of the Gentiles. Primarily, this is presented by the Savior himself when he visits the Nephites.

I have always found these chapters a bit difficult to follow, but it was a great help for me to summarize them like I did below. Here we see that there are certain key events that are presented and repeated. In chapter 16, Christ is talking about this subject right after having talked about “his sheep” in chapter 15. After a lot of other events, he returns to this topic in chapter 20. In verse 11 he basically says: “Remember what I told you about Isaiah’s words being fulfilled?” with a clear reference to chapter 16, verse 17. Then he goes on to repeat some of the events described in that chapter.

Then, in chapter 21, he talks about how the coming forth of the Book of Mormon will be a sign that the restoration of Israel is about to happen and repeats all the events discussed in chapter 16. They are color coded for easier identification. They are not necessarily in order (neither here nor in the Book of Mormon) since they are not necessarily discrete events and may overlap or occur on multiple occasions.

When we read these chapters, we note how Old Testament scriptures, in particular Isaiah, is dispersed into the text in these chapters, especially at the end, to demonstrate that this is what Isaiah was really talking about.

Note also how Mormon, who abridged the words of the Savior among the Nephites, thinks this part of his words were important to include and how he repeats several of these key issues in Mormon 5.

3^rd Nephi 16

Gentiles will populate the Americas and scatter the remnant of the House of Israel there (v.8)

The fulness of the gospel shall come to the Gentiles (v.6-7)

Still, many Gentiles will sin and reject the gospel (v.10)

God will fulfill his covenant with the House of Israel (v.11)

The gospel will be brought to the House of Israel (from the Gentiles) (v.11)

Israel will be gathered (v.5)

The Gentiles who repent will be numbered among the House of Israel (v.13)

Gentiles who do not repent will be “trodden under foot” by the House of Israel (v.15)

“This people” will have the Americas for an inheritance (v.16)

Isaiah 52:8-10 will be fulfilled (v.17-20)

3^rd Nephi 20

Jesus reminds the people what he said in Chapter 16, that Isaiah 52:8-10 will be fulfilled (v.11)

God will fulfill his covenant with the House of Israel (v.12)

The gospel will be brought to the House of Israel (from the Gentiles) (v.13)

Israel will be gathered (v.13)

Gentiles who do not repent will be “trodden down” by the House of Israel (v.16)

“This people” will have the Americas for an inheritance (v.14)

Isaiah 52:8-10 will be fulfilled (v.32-25 paraphrasing Isaiah 52:8-10 again before moving on to quote other Isaiah passages)

3^rd Nephi 21

Gentiles will populate the Americas and scatter the remnant of the House of Israel there (v.2, 4)

The fulness of the gospel shall come to the Gentiles (v.6)

Still, many Gentiles will sin and reject the gospel (v.14-21)

God will fulfill his covenant with the House of Israel (v.4, 7)

The gospel will be brought to the House of Israel (from the Gentiles) (v.5, 7)

Israel will be gathered (v.1, 24, 28)

The Gentiles who repent will be numbered among the House of Israel (v.6, 22)

Gentiles who do not repent will be “trodden down” by the House of Israel (v.12)

A remnant of Jacob will have the Americas for an inheritance (v.22,28)

Quoting Isaiah 52:12 (v.29) and Isaiah 54 (Chapter 22)

Mormon 5

Gentiles will populate the Americas and scatter the remnant of the House of Israel there (v.19-20)

God will fulfill his covenant with the House of Israel (v.20)

Gentiles who do not repent will be “trodden under foot” by the House of Israel (v.24)