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.

The small meal, the grand feast, Adam and Eve, and ancient temple worship -- Part 3: "Fulness"

In the first two posts in this series (here and here), we looked at the commandment given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 and five important aspects of that commandment:

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1)

We then connected the command to "replenish" the earth with the story of Noah and showed that in the process of keeping God's commandments, Noah went from offering God a measure of the creation to having "all things" delivered "into [his] hand" (Genesis 9:2-3).

"Replenish" is the KJV translation for the Hebrew word "male" as discussed in these previous posts.  There is a related word from the same root, "melo" which means "fulness" or "multitude."

The first time "melo" appears in the Old Testament, it shows up in a unique expression associated with Ephraim.

"mə·lō- hag·gō·w·yim" -- "Multitude of nations/fulness of the Gentiles"

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this [Manasseh] is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. (Genesis 48)

"Multitude of nations" could also be translated "fulness of Gentiles" (see this post). That is an important detail because it connects this blessing with numerous other scriptures. 

As I've thought about the latter day gathering, it occurs to me that this blessing given by Israel to Ephraim is profoundly significant:

10 And then cometh the day when the arm of the Lord shall be revealed in power in convincing the nations, the heathen nations, the house of Joseph, of the gospel of their salvation.

11 For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Doctrine & Covenants 90)

The fulness of the Gospel is being preached to the fulness of the Gentiles, in fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy.

33 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.

...

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 1)

In the next post in this series, we'll take a closer look at the detailed prophecies in the Book of Mormon which speak of the "fulness of the Gentiles" and the "fulness of the Gospel" in the latter days.

"...the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved." (Part 1)

8 Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved. (Alma 41)

"Walk" as a covenant symbol.

I love identifying covenant symbols in the Book of Mormon.  The more I carefully study these words, the stronger I come to know how carefully prepared these words were. This two-part series of posts will cover the term "walk," which I believe most often refers to a people who are living according to the temple covenant.

To illustrate this, I'll give a few example of how this word is used in the other books of scripture in part 1, followed by a long list of examples of its use in the Book of Mormon in part 2.

Old Testament

• Enoch "walked with God." (See Genesis 5:22.)
• Noah "walked with God." (See Genesis 6:9.)
• Abraham walked "before God." (See Genesis 17:1, Genesis 48:15.)
• Leviticus 26 specifies the conditions of the covenant.  The Lord outlines conditions for what will happen in consequence of the people "walk[ing] in [His] statutes" and "walk[ing] contrary unto [Him]" (see verses 3 and 21, for example).  One of the blessings of obedience is to have the Lord's promise: "I will walk among you" (see verse 12). One of the consequences of disobedience is to have the Lord "walk contrary unto you" (see verse 24).
• 33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. (Deuteronomy 5)
• 3 And the king (Josiah) stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. (2 Kings 23)
• 18 Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved... (Proverbs 28)

Of all of the references in the Old Testament, perhaps my favorite is found in Micah 4:

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem...

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

In these verses we get a direct connection between the latter-day temple, Zion, walking in the Lord's ways, and "walk[ing] in the name of the Lord."  We also find some of these direct connections in Isaiah 2/2 Nephi 12:2-5.

New Testament

• 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6) This verse seems to clearly connect the baptismal covenant with the term "walk."
• 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2) This verse connects "good works," "walking," and the purpose of our creation in "Christ Jesus." This is a very interesting passage that I will dedicate an entire future post to.
• 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him... (Colossians 2)
• 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1)
• 6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. (2 John 1)
• 4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. (Revelation 3, NIV) We find some pretty striking temple imagery in these verses.

D&C

• 133 Art thou a brother or brethren? I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant, in which covenant I receive you to fellowship, in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandments of God blameless, in thanksgiving, forever and ever. Amen. (D&C 88)
• 24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another. (D&C 90)

In the next part, we'll look at how "walk" is used in the Book of Mormon in a covenant context.

The fulness of the Gentiles

Lord Wilmore's post on the "Fulness of the gospel" reminded me of research I did some months ago resulting in a very interesting find. It all started when I read a comment from a Jewish rabbi on the Book of Mormon. Commenting the expression, "multitudes of people" in 1 Nephi 12:1, he notes

Multitudes of people: What is most fascinating about this expression is that in Genesis 48:19 when the same promise is given to the tribe of Joseph through Ephraim the Hebrew reads מלא הגוים (meloh hagoyim). The word meloh can mean multitude but it can also mean fullness. And the word goyim can mean peoples but it can also mean gentiles. So this expression could read “fullness of the gentiles”. This cannot be a coincidence. In chapter 10 Nephi mentions the fullness of the revelation of the gentiles as a condition to happen before the regathering of Israel. It is likely that Nephi makes a connection between their own descendants and the fullness of the revelation that would happen in the times before the regathering of Israel.

After reading this, I went down the rabbit hole. One thing I did was searching and even asking other Jews online about "meloh hagoyim" and got confirmed that "fulness of the Gentiles" is a correct translation. "meloh" comes from the Hebrew verb "to fill" which for instance is used in the creation story where the fish were commanded to "fill" the waters. "goy" means nation and "im" indicates plural. "ha" is the definite article. But there is not a separate word for "Gentiles" in Hebrew. So when they talk about "the nations" (hagoyim), implying not themselves included, the Israelites would mean the other nations, the Gentiles.

I also found that "fulness of the Gentiles" is an expression used twice in the Book of Mormon and one time in the New Testament (Romans 11:25). Interestingly, this expression is used in Romans when Paul uses the allegory of an olive tree with natural (Israel) and wild (Gentiles) branches. This same allegory is used in 1 Nephi 10. In verse 14, that Lord Wilmore also referenced in his post, we read:

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.

After Nephi has had a vision described in 1 Nephi 11-14, he finds his brothers arguing about what their father was talking about in chapter 10, and chapter 15 picks up on that again as Nephi starts to explain. 1 Nephi 15:13

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

This could also be a post on internal consistency, but we will focus on the message for now, which is profound: The fulness of the Gentiles means that the fulness of the gospel shall come to the Gentiles in the latter days and that the Gentiles shall be the instrument in bringing back the remnant of the House of Israel to the knowledge of the true Messiah and the covenant with Him.

So if we read the more correct translation of Genesis 48:19, we realize that Ephraim received a promise in his patriarchical blessing that he would bring about the "fulness of the Gentiles". How? When Gentiles like myself living in this "fulness of times" (Ephesians 1:10) enter into the covenant, we become part of the House of Israel and usually learn from our patriarchical blessings that we are of the tribe of Ephraim. Then we help gather the remnant of the house of Israel "in one...in Christ" (Ephesians 1:10 again), back to the covenants with Him.

As Lord Wilmore states in his post, the temple has a vital role in this. For instance, we accomplish the fulness of the Gentiles through the threefold mission of the church: perfecting the saints, proclaiming the gospel and redeeming the dead. Each of these is linked to the three priesthood keys that were restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey in the Kirtland Temple in D&C 110. The sealing keys are exercised in the temple, helping to bring "together in one all things in Christ". We live in exciting times, a time that Ephraim, Paul, Lehi and Nephi knew about and looked forward to!

The Savior himself declared in 3 Nephi 16:4

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.