Stewardship and prosperity

Joseph in Egypt is probably my favorite story in the Old Testament. Reading it again I started pondering the responsibility he gets and what he does with it. When he is sold to Potiphar, he is set over his whole household and "the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hands" (Genesis 39:3). After he was put into prison, the same thing happened again. The chief jailer committed everything in Joseph's hands and "whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper" (Genesis 39:23). 

There is a play on his name, just like we see ever so often in the Old Testament. Joseph means to add or increase. Whatever is committed into Joseph's hands increases and prospers. It happens again when he interprets Pharao's dream. 

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 41:41)

Joseph, as usual, is a good steward who uses his responsibility and position to save Egypt from famine as well as neighboring lands, including his own family. He does that by laying up and keeping (Hebr. shamar, see Genesis 41:35) food during the prosperous years.

Lord Wilmore has written about shamar, meaning to keep, watch or preserve. Adam and Eve were commanded to "shamar" the Garden of Eden. They were given a responsibility like Joseph. This is also the word used in Hebrew when talking about keeping the commandments. It is an unusual yet intriguing idea to view our relationship with the commandments as a form of stewardship similar to that of Joseph or Adam and Eve.

The Nephites are often reminded that they are a remnant of Joseph. Their forefather is an example to look up to and his story of prosperity despite being an outcast is very relevant for the outcasts from Jerusalem who were commanded to keep God's commandment with the attached blessing that they would prosper in the land if they did so. Joseph's example of stewardship and prosperity is certainly one with both temporal and spiritual applications.

42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?

43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. (Luke 12)

Sounds like Joseph. In fact, "give them their portion" uses the same verb as in the Greek Septuagint in Genesis 47:12 when Joseph "nourished his father, his brethren, and all his father's household with bread".

There are surprisingly many scriptures on this topic in the Doctrine and Covenants. Here are a few, some of them with allusions to Luke 12:

3 I, the Lord, have appointed them, and ordained them to be stewards over the revelations and commandments which I have given unto them, and which I shall hereafter give unto them;
4 And an account of this stewardship will I require of them in the day of judgment. (D&C 70)

And verily in this thing ye have done wisely, for it is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. (D&C 72:3)

21 For ye are the church of the Firstborn, and he will take you up in a cloud, and appoint every man his portion.
22 And he that is a faithful and wise steward shall inherit all things. Amen. (D&C 78)

And whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life. (D&C 51:19)

Repetitive Resumption in the Book of Mormon

Suppose you are writing an ancient manuscript and you really want to insert a parenthetical comment, but parenthesis won't be inverted for hundreds of years?  What do you do?

Repetitive resumption is one way for an ancient scribe to bracket a narrative aside. Here is a description from the article linked in the previous sentence:

How is the reader going to be able to jump back into the main story line once this is done? How does the scribe keep the reader from getting lost? Enter the ancient scribal technique of Weideraufnahme, also called a resumptive repetition or epanalepsis.
Simply put, after including the note, parenthetical remark or supplementary source, the ancient scribe would restate or paraphrase the last point in the narrative before the extra piece was added.

An example of this technique from the Old Testament can be found in Genesis 37:28, 36 and Genesis 39:1. These verses contain the same information about Joseph being sold to Potiphar. The verses bracket chapter 38, which tells a different story related to Judah.

The author of this article points out that this technique, which was probably very useful to an ancient reader, can be quite confusing to a modern reader.

Mormon uses this technique as well.  Here is an example, with the repeated information in yellow and the side comment in red:

6 So that when he had finished his work at Melek he departed thence, and traveled three days’ journey on the north of the land of Melek; and he came to a city which was called Ammonihah.
7 Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah.
8 And it came to pass that when Alma had come to the city of Ammonihah he began to preach the word of God unto them. (Alma 8)

Here are two additional examples from the story of Korihor:

6 But it came to pass in the latter end of the seventeenth year, there came a man into the land of Zarahemla, and he was Anti-Christ, for he began to preach unto the people against the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning the coming of Christ.
7 Now there was no law against a man’s belief; for it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds.
8 For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve.
9 Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him; but if he did not believe in him there was no law to punish him.
10 But if he murdered he was punished unto death; and if he robbed he was also punished; and if he stole he was also punished; and if he committed adultery he was also punished; yea, for all this wickedness they were punished.
11 For there was a law that men should be judged according to their crimes. Nevertheless, there was no law against a man’s belief; therefore, a man was punished only for the crimes which he had done; therefore all men were on equal grounds.
12 And this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be no Christ. (Alma 30)

And another at the end of the story:

56 And it came to pass that the curse was not taken off of Korihor; but he was cast out, and went about from house to house begging for his food.
57 Now the knowledge of what had happened unto Korihor was immediately published throughout all the land; yea, the proclamation was sent forth by the chief judge to all the people in the land, declaring unto those who had believed in the words of Korihor that they must speedily repent, lest the same judgments would come unto them.
58 And it came to pass that they were all convinced of the wickedness of Korihor; therefore they were all converted again unto the Lord; and this put an end to the iniquity after the manner of Korihor. And Korihor did go about from house to house, begging food for his support. (Alma 30)

For more examples and additional information, this link is useful.

Hat Tip: Brant Gardner