The patriarchal
promise and blessing of Jacob (Israel) to his son Joseph included the statement
that Joseph "is a fruitful bough, even a
fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over
the wall:" (Gen. 49: 22) the "branches of Joseph" that would
fulfill these words of Israel's blessing to Joseph were Lehi and his family and
Ishmael and his family. These two families comprised the core of the offspring
of Joseph that would extend beyond the borders of the land promised to Israel's
offspring in Palestine that would "run over the wall" of the great
ocean and become "separate from their brethren." (Gen. 49: 22, 26)
These two families, the offspring of Joseph, would be led to a land where
the "utmost bounds of the everlasting hills" (Gen. 49: 26) were to be
found. There, found among the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills,
"the blessings of thy (Joseph's) father (Jacob) have prevailed
above the blessings of my (Jacob's) progenitors they shall be on the head
of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his
brethren." (Gen. 49: 26)
We have already
discussed in another entry, the lineage of Lehi. It was established that Lehi
was a descendant of Joseph through Joseph's eldest son Manasseh. What is less
often discussed or recognized is the lineage of Ishmael which appears also to
have been through another branch of Joseph. Apostle Erastus Snow spoke in
Logan, Utah in May 1882 and said:
"The prophet
Joseph Smith informed us that the record of Lehi was contained on the 116 pages
that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgment
is given us in the first book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi
individually, he himself being of the lineage of Mannaseh; but that Ishmael was
of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi's family, and
Lehi's sons married Ishamel's daughters."
This statement by
Erastus Snow claimed to have been a recounting of principles taught by the
prophet Joseph Smith. By it we learn a number of interesting things. First, and
rather importantly, we learn that both of ancient Joseph's sons, Manasseh, and
Ephraim were represented in the group led by Lehi across the ocean to
the land of promise. Ishmael, it appears, was a descendant of Joseph's younger,
and birthright son, Ephraim.
The second interesting
thing we learn by brother Snow's statement is that it appears that Lehi and
Sariah had not only sons, Laman, Lemual, Nephi, Sam, Jacob, and Joseph, but
they had daughters as well. This is why Joseph Smith and later Erastus Snow
would say, "Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons
married into Lehi's family." There is only one very brief mention in all
of the Book of Mormon about these daughters of Lehi and Sariah. Nephi made the
following comment as he is about to Separate himself and his people from Laman
and Lemuel and their followers:
"Wherefore, it
came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and
his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my
younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who
would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in
the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken
unto my words." (2Nephi 5: 6)
Nephi himself informs
us here that he had sisters and that they were among those who "believed
in the warnings and the revelations of God." It would have been these
sisters of Neph'is that Ishmael's sons would have married into Lehi's family.
Hugh Nibley comments
on Ishmael And the potential relationship between Ishmael and Lehi as follows:
"Lehi faced with
the prospect of a long journey in the wilderness, sent back for Ishmael, who
promptly followed into the desert with a large party; this means that he must
have been hardly less adept at moving about than Lehi himself...the act of
sending for him seems to be the most natural thing in the world, as does the
marriage of his daughters with Lehi's sons. Since it has ever been the custom
of the desert people for a man to marry the daughter of his paternal uncle
(bint' ammi), it is hard to avoid the impression that Lehi and Ishmael were
related." Hugh W. Nibley Lehi in the Desert; The World of the
Jaredites
In any event, Lehi and
Ishmael and their families comprised the seed of Joseph that would cross the
ocean to the promised land unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. It
was to be from the base of the promised land that the choicest blessings of God
would be poured out "on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the
head of him that was separate from his brethren." It was to be from the
base of the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills that the Lord God of Israel
would provide the means by which the offspring of Joseph, the remnant of Israel
spoken of in the words of the Book of Mormon, would be established in
preparation for the great latter day work of fulfilling the blessing of Jacob
(Israel) to his son Joseph:
10 For thou hast
prevailed, and thy father’s house hath bowed down unto thee, even as it was
shown unto thee, before thou wast sold into Egypt by the hands of thy
brethren; wherefore thy brethren shall bow down unto thee, from
generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins for ever;
11 For thou
shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of
their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are
altogether bowed down under sin. (JST Genesis 48: 10-11)
"Thy father's
house," mentioned by Jacob in these words of Joseph's blessing is "the house of Israel." The house
of Israel is the entire focus and fulcrum of the Lord's work in the latter
days. The seed of Joseph, the remnant of Israel of the latter days spoken of in
the Book of Mormon will be the conduit by which the Lord will "deliver
them (the house of Israel) in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to
bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin."
(JST Gen. 48: 10-11)
In the words of the
Lord from the Book of Mormon, the saving work of the seed of Joseph, the
remnant of Israel will be played out in the latter days as follows:
26 And then shall the
work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall
be preached among the remnant of this people. ("this
people" are the offspring of the Nephites, the seed of Lehi and ancient
Joseph) Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father
commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have
been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.
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.
29 And they shall go out from all nations; and they
shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go
before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward. (3Nephi 21: 26-29)
Once again, in the
like manner as ancient Joseph "saved" his brethren, the house, or
sons of Israel in their days of starvation and famine, Joseph, (his
remnant offspring) of the latter days will "deliver them (the house
of Israel) in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation
unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin." (JST Gen. 48:
10-11) This will be a latter day work and event. It is foretold by the Lord in
his own words recorded in the precious Book of Mormon.
The stage for the
latter day work of the remnant seed of Joseph to once again save his brethren
the house of Israel, began When the prophet Lehi and Ishmael, both grandsons of ancient Joseph, were led to the land of the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. Their remnant
seed of the latter days, "the remnant of Israel" spoken of in the
Book of Mormon will do a mighty work with God Himself at their rearward (3Nephi
21: 29) to, "deliver them (the house of Israel) in the days of
their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them (the house of Israel), when they are
altogether bowed down under sin." And they (the house of
Israel) "shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation, unto the
fruit of thy loins for ever." (JST Gen. 48: 10-11)
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