Comments on 2 Nephi 3 v1-3 After blessing Jacob in the previous chapter, Lehi's turns his attention to his youngest son Joseph. Joseph was born in the desert, during a time of great trial to the family (v. 1), thus his birth and survival is considered an act of great providence (cp. 1 Ne. 17:1-4). Lehi then blesses Joseph with the blessings promised to his ancestors Abraham and Joseph (cf. Gen. 15), namely that of land (v. 2) and posterity (v. 3). v4-24 Lehi states the blessing he just pronounced (v. 1-3) are because of his descent through the lineage of the ancient Joseph ben Jacob, his obvious namesake, and the blessings pronounced upon him are considerable (v. 4). Lehi then discusses these blessings by explaining the ancient Joseph saw the future when the Lord would raise up a righteous branch. This branch would not be the Messiah, as predicted in Isa. 11:1, but the Messiah would be manifested to this branch of Joseph (v. 5). Rather than the Messiah, a "choice seer" will be raised up from this branch (v. 6). Lehi then quotes the ancient Joseph at length (v. 7-21) and states this was prophecy (v. 22). As a result of covenants made to the ancient Joseph, this present Joseph is blessed as well in that his children will believe the words of the Lord when they are manifest (v. 23). And one will arise from among them who will do much to accomplish the restoration of Israel and the lineage of Lehi (v. 24). v5 "a righteous branch", in general Lehi is making reference to the lineage of Joseph being preserved, cf. 10:1-2. However, Lehi appears to be speaking specifically about an individual, this "choice seer" in v. 7 who is to be of the lineage of Joseph. See also v. 24. v7-21 is a lengthy quotation of Joseph ben Jacob predicting the Lord's promise to deliver his posterity. When simplified, the prophecy is speaking of two deliverers, one named Joseph who will unite the writings of Judah and Joseph to the salvation of the lineage of Joseph (v. 6-8, 11-16). And, one named Moses who will draw Israel out of Egypt (v. 9-10, 17-21). The two promised deliverers are introduced in v. 6-10, one will be a choice seer who will make known the covenants of the Lord to the lineage of Joseph (v. 6-8). The second will lead Israel out of captivity from Egypt (v. 9-10). The missions of these deliverers are then discussed in greater length in v. 11-21. The first, the seer named Joseph, will bring the word of both Joseph and Judah to the lineage of Joseph, and in so doing will establish peace among them by rejecting falsehood (v. 11-12). Out of weakness this seer will be made strong, even to restore the house of Israel (v. 13). Those that seek to destroy him will be confounded, because the Lord will fulfil His promises to the ancient Joseph through this seer (v. 14). This seer and the seer's father will both be named after the ancient Joseph, and the seer will be like him in accomplishing salvation for Israel (v. 15). Joseph is confident of this seer being provided, just as confidant of the second deliverer, named Moses, being provided (v. 16). This Moses will be mighty in writing the Law of the Lord, and a spokesman will be given him to declare it (v. 17-18). The words which Moses will write and which the lineage of Joseph will write will go to the latter lineage of Joseph (v. 19), and call them to repentance (v. 20). This will be according to the faith of the sons of Joseph who write the words to their latter generations, so that the latter generations will learn of the covenant of the Lord to them (v. 21). This quotation of the ancient Joseph ben Jacob is documented on the Brass Plates, cf. 4:2. Their being documented there, and not in the Bible as we have it today, is because the Brass Plates are a record maintained specifically by the seed of Joseph, cf. 1 Ne. 5:14-16. Hence the emphasis placed upon Joseph's prophecies. The Bible as we have it today is a record maintained largely by the seed of Judah, 1 Ne. 13:23-25. v12 This uniting of the writings of Judah and Joseph reads similarly to the prediction of Ezek. 37:15-28. Note the laying down of contention and establishing of peace is among the lineage of Joseph, and not the Gentiles. The publication of the words of the lineage of Joseph among the Gentiles has been and is anything but noncontentious and peaceful, cp. 2 Ne. 29:1-10. v15 When the ancient Joseph says the seer Joseph "shall be like unto me" it is in reference to both of them bringing salvation to Israel. In the case of the ancient Joseph, he preserved Israel by bringing them to Egypt to survive the great famine (cf. Gen. 45-47). In the case of the seer Joseph, he will preserve Israel by restoring the natural lineage of Israel to the Lord their God. The verse is obviously referring to Joseph Smith Jr. An interesting side note is the existence of an obscure tradition among the Jews of one "Messiah ben Joseph", who is separate from the Messiah ben Judah through David. Unfortunately, the tradition is so obscure I have been unable to find much on it. My impression is the tradition is derived from prophecies in Gen. 49:23-26, Ezek. 38-39, and Zech. 4. The most I have been able to find on this subject in print is from Rabbi Stephen M. Wylen's _Settings of Silver_, printed 1989 by Paulist Press, pages 97-98, from the chapter entitled "The World to Come", as follows: There is a rich folklore of apocalyptic. Every sect had its own version of how the end would come and what would occur before and after it. Despite the variations it is possible to give a general outline of the apocalypse with all the elements that became widely accepted among Jewish believers. Following the prediction of the prophet Malachi, the prophet Elijah would come to the earth to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. According to rabbinic folklore Elijah will answer all the difficult questions of the law which the rabbis were unable to decide upon, so that the law will be complete for the Messiah. The end is preceded by times of terrible upheaval in the world. The forces of lawlessness and evil will become more powerful, and the Jews will suffer terrible oppression, Many people will be killed or will fall away from the Torah during that time. The forces of evil will gather together into a great army, the army of Gog and Magog. The forces of good, few in number, will be led by Messiah ben Joseph, the Messiah descended from Joseph the son of Jacob. The two armies will fight six indecisive battles. The seventh and final battle is called Armageddon. The forces of evil will have the upper hand in the final battle and the Messiah ben Joseph will be mortally wounded. Then God will send the Messiah ben David, the Messiah descended of King David, who will miraculously turn the tide of battle and bring utter defeat to the forces of evil. After the battle all who ever lived will be resurrected to bodily life in the Valley of Jehosaphat, east of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Those Jews who are buried in the Land of Israel will arise from the grave where they are buried, but other Jews will have to painfully burrow underground in order to rise up in the Land of Israel. After the resurrection comes the Last Judgement in which all who ever lived are judged on the scales of justice, with the Messiah presiding. Those judged to be evil go to eternal destruction, while those judged to be good are granted eternal life. They climb up from the Valley of Jehosaphat to the Temple Mount where they rebuild the Temple, the Third Temple which will last forever. God prepares a meal from the body of the primaeval monster Leviathan for the Feast of the Righteous. Thus beings the Time of the Messiah, a time of peace, tranquility and material plenty on earth. Unfortunately, in preparing this tantalizing distillation the author failed to provide any citations or references to other related texts. v16 I would assume the confidence statement here is given because the prediction of this seer is to come a long time in the future, in the "latter-days" (v. 12). This is in contrast to the deliverer Moses, who's necessity would be much more obvious and immediate to the ancient Joseph given the political situation with Egypt, one which he was intimately acquainted with. v17-18 That Moses is granted a spokesman appears to be part of the Lord's purpose in making him mighty in writing. Perhaps in leaving Moses inelegant in speech (cf. Exod. 4:10), the Lord is encouraging him to develop his writing skills so as to communicate through those means instead. In the long run, this would be more desirable to the Lord as the audience to Moses' written word would be much larger to the audience to his spoken word. It is a popular notion among contemporary religionists that the Law of Moses was written hundreds, if not thousands, of years after the man Moses lived from an oral tradition which was later written down and then edited a great deal over time. These verses make it plain Moses really did write the Law of Moses. Now, this is not to say that what we have is exactly what Moses wrote, as that is plainly not the case. However, it is clear the supposition that an oral tradition was written down at some considerably later date is incorrect. This position is maintained throughout the Scriptures. All of the OT and BofM authors attribute authorship of the Law to Moses, as does Jesus and the other NT authors. v17 "power unto him in a rod", the rod was a symbol of leadership among the Semites. In this case, the Lord gave Moses both the literal rod he used to perform miracles with, and this symbolically represented his right to lead Israel. "a spokesman", i.e., Aaron, Moses' older brother, cf. Exod. 4:16. v23 "the book", it is not clear to me which book Lehi is referring to here. The preceding quote mentioned both the book or Judah, and the book of Joseph, and a combination of the two. I would guess Lehi would be referring more inclusively to the combination of the two from v. 12. v25 Lehi closes his blessing on Joseph with an admonition to follow after his older brother Nephi's example. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. 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